when adding the tiny side edging to the bottom edging some weirdness happened - there was a single row of stockingette v’s on the RS where the small border met the lower edging, which looked really odd to me. here is how i rectified it:

at bottom of page 2 instructions indicate ‘k2tog tbl to join’ for odd rows 1-8. instead i p2tog. for even rows 1-8, BE SURE TO SLIP ST WITH YARN IN FRONT (i.e. with yarn on WS of work, which is currently the side facing you) or you end up with another sort of weirdness. even if you like the stockingette v’s, be sure to slip st w/ yarn in front to avoid the weirdness.

at top of page 3, instructions indicate ‘p2tog to join’ for odd rows 1-8. instead i k2tog tbl. on this side, for even rows 1-8 i slipped st normally, with yarn in back (i.e. with yarn on WS of work).

this mod made the new edging look like a seamless part of the original, rather than having a line as though it were added later.

when picking up sts along top edge of bottom edging, the obvious space to pu is the valley between each pair of garter ridges, but there are only 96 such valleys (24 repeats times 8 sts divided by 2), which is 30 sts shy of the 126 st count i needed for the size M (38”). so roughly every 3rd ‘valley’ needed to have 2 sts picked up in it instead of just 1 to get the proper count.

slipping stitches: the chart notes to slip the first st every RS row. to make the picot edges ultra tidy, i recommend slipping the first stitch of EVERY ROW for all portions of the garment - bottom edging, main garment, and even for the tiny side edging on the bottom strip (not just the inside rows, but outside rows as well). in the detail image you can see the difference - top picot was slipped every row; bottom picot was slipped just when the pattern indicated (i’m not going to frog the whole thing to fix it, but i’m sure nobody will notice except me). another thing to keep in mind: for any st that is slipped, be sure to slip WITH YARN TO WS OF FABRIC. sometimes this means slipping st wyib (normal), other times it means slipping st wyif (weird).

followed the pattern’s rec to make a smallerish size if one is particularly busty. i am a rather front-heavy 41” 36DD, so i normally opt for a 40” size, but this came out TINY. i’m hoping it blocks, and that the silk grows as much as silk tends to grow, but the garment is rather itty bitty right now so i’m a wee bit worried.

used EXACTLY 2 skeins of the sea three. i’m not at all impressed with this yarn. the 2nd skein had FOUR KNOTS in it, and the bit of yarn after the 4th knot was substantially darker than the rest of the yarn, so there’s a big dark section in the middle of the back and on the left front (from when i was working from the outside of the 2nd ball). mis-matched colour is understandably a risk you take with hand-dyed yarns, but rarely is it such a huge problem in the same skein! and i’m extremely displeased about all the knots (grr extra ends to weave in). when you pay $40/skein for yarn that’s a bit absurd.

it still came out a little bit little, even after an agressive blocking. so it’s PERFECT on the petit Wommequin, but a bit snug on my slightly curvier frame. New plan involves losing 10 pounds, hoping the silk stretches, and next time making a gauge swatch before I start (oops)! But in any case, I fucking LOVE this pattern and may even make a few more as gifts for friends. It’s SUPER cute and FAST and fun to knit and really impressive once finished.

update: as silk tends to do, it stretched just enough, and now fits me beautifully. as a side note, it still looks pretty foxy on wommekin even though it’s now quite a bit big on her (i think she’s about a 36), so that’s something to keep in mind if you want it to fit more like a cardigan and less like a shrug, you can knit the size you would normally knit if you are busty, or maybe a size larger if you are not busty, and get perfectly marvelous results (it’s rather amazing that this pattern looks good with the recommended negative ease or even with a bit of positive ease).