Summer Lovin'... Sort Of

I decided this year I was going to take part in Luvinthemommyhood's Tops, Tanks and Tees Knit Along. I knew I wanted to knit Jane Richmond's Gemini and I knew I had some pretty DK weight in a silk, linen, rayon blend that would probably work. I couldn't wait to cast on!

I swatched ahead of time so that come April 24th I could dive right into knitting. It went along fairly smoothly pattern wise. Yarn wise was another story. I was using the long since discontinued Chanson from Grignasco, and was worried about my yardage to begin with. Then there were knots upon knots in almost every ball. Only one out of my eight wasn't knotted at least twice. So frustrating. And soooooooo many ends to weave in. Not to mention my knitting time was fraught with anxiety over playing yardage chicken.

As it turns out I had no need to worry. I had a bit left over from that last ball and it just so happens I should've made an entire size smaller. I have no idea what went wrong. Not a clue. I did choose a size with only 2" negative ease instead of 4" negative ease as suggested in the pattern. I don't really like tight clothes, but did still want a semi fitted top. You can imagine my horror as I cast off the last few stitches and finally got a really good look at my sweater. It said "Too Big" all over it. Then I tried it on thinking maybe it just looked deceptively large.

Nope. Nothing deceptive about it. It's a lovely, flowy, slightly A-line top. What the heck? It appeared to fit like a dream when I tried it on just after separating the sleeves. Now, don't get me wrong. I can embrace the fact it's not like I envisioned. I'm ok with loose and flowy. What I'm not ok with is a neckline that stretches as I'm wearing it so that suddenly I'm looking like I'm trying to pull off an Jennifer Beals/Flashdance look. I retired that off the shoulder, slouchy look somewhere around grade eight for good reason. There is no way I want to bring it back now in my 40s. Yikes!

So! I need to come up with a solution. My choices seem to range from ripping the whole darn thing out and starting over (the horror!!!!), attacking it with my sewing machine and a pair of scissors (which makes me want to run and hide under the bed just thinking about it), crocheting decreasing rounds at the neckline to snug it in (clearly the least painful option so far) or tossing it in the box with my other knitting fiascos I've had over the years (so sad because I really do love the colour of my yarn). Right now it sits on my dresser where I can glare at it while I decide it's fate. Which would you choose?