Anyway, I have good news, and bad news.
I cast off on Green Gables last night! (that's the good news)
Modifications:
I made mine a bit longer than the pattern called for, and did 5 rounds of ribbing at the hem, instead of just 3. I also added a row to the sleeve ribbing as well.
Pattern: Green Gables by Zephyr Style
Yarn: Knitpicks Main Line yarn in Silver Sage. 5 1/2 balls. I really do love this yarn, contrary to what you might believe from my previous post. I think it was the bag they put the yarn in that added a bit of stinkyness. I'm already eyeing more for future projects ;) Too bad it's not 40% off any longer, but I do have a little stash of the Dusty Lavender.
Needles: Denise size 7 and 5
Cast on: August 6
Cast off: August 14
Size: 34
Overall, I was pretty happy with this pattern, but not so happy with the fit (that's the bad news). Other than a few typos (which always annoy me), it seems to be pretty well-written, but it's a very basic knit, if you don't take the lacework (which is easy, too) into consideration. I know a lot of people have issues with the Zephyr Style patterns because they don't provide schemantics, but the patterns have no seams, and I'm a sucker for seamless patterns. I'm awful at finishing. Really bad.
Now on to the fit. I know I have narrow shoulders-- always have, always will, but the neckline on this is huge on me. I've peeked around at all Green Gable FOs out there in blogland, and no one else seems to have this problem, so it must just be me. Unless I want to wear it slightly off the shoulder with a tank, ala Flashdance, it's a no go. So throw the no finishing out the window, I'm going to have to come up with some kind of "taking in" to make it work, or it will be frogville for Green Gables. Sigh. I guess I should have knit the smaller size, but I'm pretty happy with the fit elsewhere.
Full body picture:
Sorry for the crappy bathroom mirror shots-- Jason is out of town, so it's all I can get right now.
The offending neckline:
Next up? I've joined the knitalong on the Cotton Ease Yahoo Group, and have started a Something (Red) Blue in Blueberry Cotton Ease. I should have lots of knitting time available to me in the coming weeks, as dh will be out of town tonight, and then most of next week and the week after. I actually cheated and cast on last night while watching the finale of Hell's Kitchen. Boo. I wanted Virginia to win.
However, I do have more good news (cross fingers!) --we're planning on going to the Michigan Fiber Festival this weekend. I've neglected to post about this as of yet, because it's 3 hours away (think of all the car knitting!), and I felt for sure that Jason would back out, but he still seems game. Cross your fingers he doesn't bail! After the Fiber Fest, I must go on a yarn buying curb. I just bought 4 skeins of Southwest Trading Company's Soysilk Ribbon from Wild String's going out of business sale. I don't even like ribbon yarn really, but it was only $5 a skein and I've been dying to try soysilk!