Not what I expected

While I was at Sock Summit, I finished a top I had been working on (Radian Yoke by Wendy Bernard).  I was so excited to wear it that I blocked it in my hotel room.  Unfortunately, I'm not very happy with it.  There are things I like about it.  I love the lace pattern in the yoke.  I like that the front doesn’t ride up because I put in bust darts.  There are also things I don’t like about it.  It doesn’t sit on my shoulders well and I’m constantly pulling the shoulders up as they slide down throughout the day.

  

This weekend, I had a friend take pictures of me wearing it so I could post them here and on Ravelry.  When I saw the pictures I was devastated.  I looked HUGE.  I wear a size 26, so I know I’m not tiny – but this was disturbing.  Was I really this misguided about what I look like?  It’s not like I avoid looking in the mirror.  From watching reality modeling shows on TV, I know that “knowing your angles” is imperative for good photographs – never mind that I have no idea what my angles are, or what that even means.  So maybe the pictures looked so bad because my angles were off.  Needless to say, being confronted with these photos put me in a funk.  

Tonight I spent some more time looking at them.  They weren't quite as horrible as I had originally thought.  One thing I realized was that the top is WAY too big – and it was making me look bigger as a result.  There is at least 4 extra inches of fabric.  In this photo I’m holding in that fabric – it's already starting to look better. 

I am actually contemplating re-doing this top so I can fix what went wrong.  I originally purchased the yarn at a whole bag sale with another project in mind, so I bought two bags.  This top only used 9 skeins, so I have plenty left.  I usually hate re-doing projects, but in this case I think it needs to be done.  As it is now, I will never wear this top again and I think the pattern is too cute and I’ve put in too much time and effort for that to happen.  I need to think about it and figure out what the new plan of attack will be – more on that in my next post.  Stay tuned.