Pattern: Wildflowers Blouse by Poison Grrls. I test knit this one and it's a gem! The neckline! The sleeves!
Materials: The recommended yarn for this knit is CoBaSi by HiKoo and I also heartily recommend this yarn. This is the second time using this yarn (in a second Poison Grrls design) and it's just perfect for summer or, you know, living in LA like I do.
Cost: I used almost all of 5 skeins of CoBaSi in "Gold Crest", so total was $47 including shipping.
Timeline: Woof. Test knits can be tricky, you know?? I started this on June 10th and finished it on July 21st, after a lot of ripping and re-knitting. I knit a total of FIVE sleeves on this sweater, can you believe it??
Sizing, mods, changes and notes on fitting: Ok, the finished product is fantastic, I am very happy with it BUT due to the "test" variety of knitting, this didn't exactly go as planned. I cast on the wrong number of stitches, so it's a little larger than the size L. Now, each designer has a testing process that is different and works well for them, but unfortunately for ME, Amy's process requires detailed reading and apparently I am very bad at that!!!!! So I missed a few corrections to the first draft of the pattern and that led to the sizing issue, as well as me having to rip and re-knit the top of the bodice AFTER I had already finished the entire garment. So yes, this took me over a month to get right, but I never have regrets about ripping out a "Meh" knit to make sure it's fab.
I also got Covid somewhere in that month, and I partially blame that for my inability to read the corrections. IT WAS NOT MY FAULT (it was my fault).
Ok, back to what I DID do right: I added an extra inch of length to the body before beginning the increases for the bust, and I knit the sleeves one size smaller (my usual mod for my skinny arms). I love love love the sleeves and the proportions of the puffy sleeves vs. the sweetheart neckline!
Feelings about this project: Overall, I am so so happy with how it turned out, and I feel really fantastic wearing it. And I promise to learn to read soon.