Greek Pullover-- Finished

This morning I finished sewing the ruffle on my Greek Pullover and it was officially finished. Very exciting.

Project Stats:
Pattern: Greek Pullover from Fall ’05 IK by Sharon Shoji
Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic in color 842 (rose), four and half balls used
Needles: Size 7 and 8 straights
Mods: None

Okay, so I made the smallest (34” bust) size. I made this decision because the last top I made for myself was the Lotus Blossom Tank, which I realized in hindsight I should have made in the 34” bust size, instead of the 38”. Every time I put on the Tank I spend about fifteen minutes cinching it and arranging the bust line to minimize the chances of my breasts falling out of the front of it. Obviously, I didn’t want to repeat that same mistake. Hence the 34” bust size on the Greek Pullover.

As confident as I was that I didn’t want to repeat my previous mistake, as I was knitting the Pullover I began to wonder if I had made an entirely different mistake: choosing too small a size. I began to wonder if it was going to take an act of god to wrestle the finished sweater over my head and breasts and etc., etc. Ahem. Up until the end I was in suspense. I comforted myself with the knowledge that blocking is magic and my swatch had grown a teeny tiny bit when I blocked it.

When I finally got the whole thing sewn up on Saturday I tried it on. The bust fit, the neckline fit, I was a little worried about the length but it wasn’t that far off either. The thing that got me (in the end) was the left armscye. It was too small. Somehow, when I sewed the sleeve into the armscye I managed to take the tiniest tuck in the sleeve and my shoulder would just barely, after some tugging, squeeze through the armscye. And then it was a little like wearing a blood pressure cuff. However, since I had already seamed everything up and woven in the ends I decided to give the sweater a stern blocking before I ripped out the sleeve (which would undoubtedly require a bit of a surgery since I wouldn’t be able to find my end again.)

So I blocked it and when I blocked it I grabbed both of the shoulder seams (the right could stand to be a tad looser) and stretched them as much as I thought I could get away with. And then I tried it on a few more times throughout the blocking process, stretching it each time. And today? When I got up this morning, ready for my moment of truth? Well, I won’t say it’s perfect, but it’s definitely wearable. More than that, I think it will stretch more with the wearing. Happy day.

So instead of surgically removing a sleeve today, and possibly ending up reknitting a portion of it (if the surgeon was not as skilled as she should be in the removal process) I made the chiffon ruffle and sewed it on. I think it’s fantastically cute. Oh, and the color is really good on me. (this is probably the real reason for my pink obsession. I look good in pretty much any shade of pink.)