Sweet Charlotte

Finished Charlotte Wednesday night.  I had been really concerned about the fronts as they seemed to be drooping a bit.  So, when I picked up for the front bands, instead of picking up three stitches for every four rows, I picked up two stitches for every three rows, and the fronts hang perfectly.  Also, instead of doing garter stitch for the front and neck bands, I used reverse stockinette.  It matches the lace edging fine, but doesn't stretch.  The collective wisdom Wednesday night was that Charlotte looked better without a closure at the neck (which honestly, at my age, looked just a little too sweet) so I am opting to just wear it open.

Except for the front bands, I worked this pattern pretty much as written.  It was a little unclear to me why the designer opted for double decreases every four rows on the body rather than standard decreases every other row, but I did it anyway.  The result is a decorative little motif along the body portion of the raglan sleeve. 

Here's a lclose up of the double decreases (left slanting on the right side)

and right slanting on the left side.  

As you can see, when you make the decrease lean in the opposite direction of the shaping, it is much more noticeable, and can be very decorative. I'm not sure if I would work the decreases that way again, but it is really attractive The designer uses slip one knit two together, pass slipped stitch over for her left slanting double decrease.  I opted instead for sssk which I think looks a little better.  You can use whatever you like best.

On the sleeve, the pattern instructs you to decrease on the front and the back.  Again, she probably had a good reason for that guidance, but I like to keep things simple, so I did all of my decreasing on the right side.  Here's a photo of my sleeve. 

After it's all said and done, I  really do like this pattern and am thinking of doing another one.