3-27-12 - added two modeled shots - turns out it was just cool enough on sunday to wear to class (thank you kathy & penny for the photos). I am very pleased with the fit (wore over a t-shirt)…and generally LOVE this sweater. I know I’ll wear it a lot once the weather turns cooler.

3-24-12 - it wasn’t dry yesterday… but today it was and I sewed on the buttons. modeled shots coming later (hopefully not “much” later…but it’s still 70’s/80’s here and I don’t really want to wear a coat-length sweater!)

3-22-12 - blocking!! marked 3-23 as the finish date, assuming it will be dry by tomorrow so I can trim the ends and sew on buttons.

3-19-12 - seamed and set-in the sleeves - now I just have the button bands…and a bazillion ends to weave in :-) realized today that I doubled the ruffle on my skirt - did kfb on every stitch for two right-side rows before binding off. love the way it looks, so guess that’s a “feature” I’ll be keeping! still thinking about how I want to finish the front bands - ribbing? ruffles? short rows? down a needle size? too many decisions! p.s. LOVE the way the sleeves fit!!

3-17-12 - skirt finished (whew, the ruffle took me 2+ hours to bind off!) - all that’s left is seaming/setting in the sleeves and the button bands. (used 2-1/2 skeins of noro so far)

2-27-12 - sleeves knitted (I did make them narrower - blogged about it here - and ended up re-working two more times - the first two versions were too narrow!) and ruffled. bodice knitted, shoulders seamed and neck ruffled. hoping to start the skirt this week! LOVE the noro for the ruffles. cannot wait to see how it knits up for the fronts and the bottom of the skirt.

2-3-12 - starting the sleeves; knitting them together; need to determine if I’m going to make them narrower…

1-31-12 - finished the bodice - ended up with 51 rows ~ .75 inches shorter than the pattern

1-28-12 - halfway up the back…and cannot wait to start ruffles - found the BEST yarn (silk garden) for it yesterday (pictured above)

1-15-12 - yarn wound, ready to swatch! on size 8’s 17.5 st and 23 rows/4 inches. going to knit the smallest size and feel like I’ll be able to block it to ~35”…should fit!
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for the button band, I picked up stitches beginning just below the neck ruffle and all the way down to the end of the skirt ruffle. worked 4 rows of stockinette, the turning row, and then changed to size 7 needles (one size down) to knit the remaining 3 rows of stockinette. I sewed down the facing with the yarn I used for the button band.

for the buttonhole band, I picked up stitches beginning a few rows from the edge of the skirt ruffle and continued to a few rows short of the neck ruffle edge. I marked 5 buttonholes on just the bodice - 1st button about an inch below the collar and 5th button just above the bodice seam, other 3 buttons evenly spaced between. then I blended the tweeks from week 10’s blog post with the original pattern:
row 1 (WS) - purl
row 2 (RS) - knit to 1 stitch from end, w&t
row 3 - purl to 1 stitch from end, w&t
row 4 - buttonholes, knit to 2 stitches from end, w&t
row 5 - purl to 2 stitches from end, w&t
row 6 - kfb into each stitch (picking up wraps on last 2 stitches)
row 7 - purl (picking up wraps on last 2 stitches)
row 8 - kfb into each stitch
BO knitwise on next row.
the button band ruffle and skirt/neck ruffle were the same length, but not joined for the last few rows - I simply seamed them (piece of cake with all those kfb stitches) and I’m happy with the results!