Jems Diamonique - FINISHED!

Here she is all weaved in and ready to go...


(The "Carrioke" shot, complete with smudgy bathroom mirror but without the smiley-smile.)


(I want to patent the "late-night dance-move" shot. Sorry Betsy, I am not much of a Sporty Spice, but I DO like some late night rrrrumpshakin')


(Love that plunge!)

Stats:
Pattern Jems Collection - Diamonique by Saunshine

Fiber Knit Picks Shine Sport in Hydrangea (5-6 balls for the XL)

Needles US5 for the body, US3 for the neckband

Time it took For-freakin-EVER. I think I started it last spring?

Mods
The main mod was that I did not do the increases at the top of the armsyces as written. I have a wide shoulder phobia, and I am glad I left them out. The shoulders on the finished piece are the absolute widest I could wear. Since I left off the increases, I had to do some fiddling around with the neckline and I think I added a few decreases there. I also made the center stitch of the neckline a purl instead of a knit, as it kept the k1p1 ribbing look more consistently.

What I love
The shine sport seems made for this design. It has just enough shininess from the modal but isn't so sparkly that I can't wear it to work. This yarn is my new favorite cotton blend. I did not get hand cramps from knitting it, yet it seems to have all the wearability of the cotton that I have dreaded knitting with in the past.

I love the diamond lace as well; it was an easy pattern to memorize and I only messed up in one spot without catching it (and I am not telling where). The designer also wrote in a lovely garter edge on the arm bands, so no ribbing was required (love that!)

What I would do differently next time
Always the sweaters are too short for my non waist! (Not to mention the mountaineering the sweater has to do to even GET to my waist.)


(Just 2 more inches woulda done a world of good!)

Maybe one of these days I will remember that, and learn to love short rows, I was just REALLY not interested in trying to figure out how to insert them into the lace gracefully... And while I love that I didn't need to knit arm ribbing, the pattern calls for only 2 garter stitches, and they are quite firmly curled under... If I knit this again, I might decrease one more to accommodate a three stitch garter edge.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with this FO. And since this is Texas, I still have several weeks of wear this year!