I really wish that designers would take the idea of “inclusive knitting” and apply it on both sides of the spectrum. My full bust of 30” doesn’t fit anywhere in the size spectrum. She recommends between -1.5’ to +3” of ease. The smallest size is 34.75”. So I am going to knit the size 1, but will modify it for a smaller fit- hopefully a fit closer to 33” at full bust (for 3” of positive ease on my full bust) and also some waist shaping. For reference, my full bust is 30”, waist is 25”, and I’m 5’6” tall.

Thoughts on final fit… I’m really happy with the body with all of the modifications I made. The sleeves and the neckline both seem a bit too big for me - nothing horrible- but that makes sense given that there were no modifications to make them smaller.

Thoughts on yarn… I love it! The slightly heathered look adds a lovely dimension to the top. This is going to be a great top to wear in spring, fall, and even in the summer.

I loved this tutorial for the Italian Bind Off!

Modifications:

• I omitted some of the cast-on stitches under the arms during the join back and front to reduce the stitch count by 8 stitches (or about about 1.6”). I only cast-on 1 stitch under each arm (instead of 5).
• I left a side marker when joining the back and the front- to mirror the BOR marker. I further reduced the stitch count of the body by decreasing at the side and BOR markers as follows: I knit in pattern for two inches after the join as measured under the arms. After two inches in pattern, I added a decrease round. I repeat the decrease round every inch for 6 times total (24 sts decreased)- maintaining stitch pattern as best as possible. Decrease round: {ssk, knit until 2 sts before m, k2tog, sm}- repeat twice around (4 sts decreased).
• I don’t understand the number of repeats at the end of the polo neck collar. I’ve taken a look at the designer’s sample and a lot of the test knits and it looks like a normal length polo collar. If I were to repeat rows 26-31 five times, as the pattern indicates, the collar would be super long- like below the v-neck. I’m wondering if she changed it after testing or if it is an error in the instructions? Instead, I repeated rows 26-31 only two times in total.

Errors Identified in Pattern:

• There seems to be an error in the pattern. On page 4, Front left, If we start at the neck edge of the RS and pick up and knit, how can row 1 (the row after the pick up row) be a RS row? Instead I worked the WS as row 1. (Designer sent an update later fixing this error.)

• On page 5, Right front, I have no idea what it means to “use the long tail (not the end that goes into the ball)” to pick up and knit stitches along the shoulder. So I am just picking up as one normally would do.

• On page 6, ribbing for the sleeves should be p1,k1 in order for the ribbing to align properly.

• For the polo neck instructions (left placket, right placket, and collar, the pattern says to pick up stitches, but you really need to pick up and knit stitches.

• On page 10, end of the polo neck instructions, it says “Work rows 26-31 another 4 times for a total of 5 repeats of rows 25-30” but it should say “Work rows 26-31 another 4 times for a total of 5 repeats of rows 26-31.”