FO Report: Spiral Shell
Designers:  Deborah Newton
Pattern Source: Wrap Style
Yarn: DB Cashmerino Aran, only 5 balls (see below), not the 6 recommended
Needle Size:  8
Gauge: ??
Date Completed: March 2006

Hello ... My name is Jenifer ... and I'm a poncho knitter.  Yes, it's true ... After being on the fence for some time now about whether I was "pro-poncho" or "anti-poncho," I can no longer pretend ... I am a poncho knitter.  Let's get this out of the way here at the beginning ... we can call this a shell (doesn't spiral shell sound so elegant?);  or perhaps a wrap (wait -- that's what I order at Q-Doba for lunch); but we all know what this really is.

I don't care -- I love it. 

On to the details ... (that's what you really want to know, right?):

I knit the smallest size, and had no issues with this until I had just a tad too much wine at Thanksgiving last year, and then the spiral shell became a poster child for "Friends Don't Let Friends Knit Drunk," or in other words, I made a sudden jerky movement and about one and a half repeats ripped down about 6 rows.  Arrgh!  My absolute worst nightmare as a knitter is to drop multiple stitches on a lace project!   So, I instead threw this wrap into the naughty corner where Rogue is still residing (remember Rogue? -- which I cast on for in August! --he made the same offense to me some time ago [and yes, he's a he now]), and I just had the courage to pull this little shell out again during the UFOlympics.  (Rogue may not officially come out of the naughty corner until next August, I just decided.)

So, after I recovered from that point, I had no more issues until I came to the BO row ... and I ran out of yarn!  In the middle of the row!  More to the point, I ended my fifth ball of yarn and started my sixth ball on the BO row.  When I tried the poncho on, it fit WAAAAY too big on the top -- there was no semblance of wrapping around my shoulders, despite the fact that it looks perfect on Caitlin Fitzgerald (yes, that's Pam Allen's daughter).

So, I ripped back the ribbing on the top and just the very top repeat -- which wasn't too bad, actually, though I thought it might be.  I then decreased one more stitch in the FIRST row of that repeat by creating a P1 of the P2 section, and then on the last row of the pattern I decreased AGAIN by making a "YO, K2tog" where there didn't need to be a k2tog. 

In total, I turned the 12-stitch repeat into a 9-st repeat by the end, with three decrease rows total, instead of the just one dec row total.

I ended the shell with a k1p1 rib instead of k2p2 (I thought it might be more tightly fitting), and the result seems to have worked out pretty well. 

(Honestly, I still think I could have made the top even smaller.)

So, I love it!  I think it'll be so cute over a tee, over a tank, over a dress ... So, who cares if it's really a poncho?

The "Look, I can still put my hands on my hips" pose.

The "Check out how gracefully the Spiral Shell drapes across my back" pose.

The "Is that the FedEx truck coming with more yarn?" pose.

Come back tomorrow ... and you'll find another FO Report from Wrap Style!