WIP: Zelda Blouse

It's sort of silly that I actually hadn't taken a picture of this blouse-in-progress until this morning.  I started it in November or December, plugged away and finished a big chunk of it.  I've already run into a lot of really frustrating problems with the pattern, the largest of which was that there were two extra decreases added in where there should be none.  The stitch counts were still correct, so I had to look through all the projects on Ravelry and the pictures of the actual garment to puzzle out where those decreases should be removed.

The other problem was mostly my fault, but also a little bit the pattern's: there was no indication that the decreases that I had merrily been doing for the last eight inches of fabric would be changing, so that there were paired increases and decreases that would make the net change in stitch count 0.  I almost threw it against the wall in frustration when I realized that I would have to rip back 4 inches of work.

These issues ordinarily wouldn't be a problem - jump on the errata page and off you go! - but the magazine that initially published this pattern changed hands, and the errata is gone.  I don't mind doing a little thinking with my knits, but it's frustrating to have to rip out over and over because of mistakes or oversights in the pattern.

On a happier note, the yarn I'm using is wonderful.  It's Mirasol Yarns Tupa, a merino/silk blend with a lovely sheen and drape. It really is eye-searingly pink in the light, although these pictures are a little too pink/orange and not enough deep fuchsia.  Ah well.

Now I'm off to make a sandwich and go to work.  Happy Friday!

Pattern: Zelda by Joan McGowan-Michael