Mind the Gap

I'm done with the springtime shell (name withheld to protect its innocence), and here it is in all its unblocked glory:

Normally I would do a lot more to photograph a new project than drop it on the floor, but I made a bold decision about this in the middle of the night: I'm actually NOT done with the springtime shell.

I have to frog it back to the armholes. It's gonna hurt. But not as much as disliking it the way it is. I fell prey to the classic blunder: I made an armhole that gaps at the bust. And by "gaps", I mean "serious side-boob peep show" Eeewwww. So disappointing. But, there it is; I jacked it up, and there's no crying in knitting. What's really blowing my mind is that I knew it was going off the rails somehow, but I still pressed on until all those fiddly edgings were done, and I even wove in the ends, as if that would somehow improve all of the structural problems.

A deep breath and a critical appraisal in the light of day resulted in the following diagnosis:

The notes in white (on the left) are the things I think went wrong. The ones in yellow are my plotted corrections.

A little research into the dangerous territory of bust darts (which I admit, are not my favorite thing in the world), yielded the following gem of an article by Friend of Knitting Amy Herzog:

Why You (probably) Don't Need Short Rows

Thanks, Amy! I had a sneaking suspicion that short row bust darts don't really solve all problems, and now I can prove it. Amy's elegant solution is to add more stitches vertically, which I can totally hide adjacent to the center panel, and then take them all out a few rows later. Poof! More coverage up front, and hopefully no more armhole gap.

And although I never thought I'd hear myself say it: The picot edgings on the armhole and neckline are totally not working here. I'm going to have to change them to something with a little more backbone.

Having emotionally committed to the frog-out, I'm actually looking forward to getting this fixed. It's like an itch I have to scratch.

Sure do wish I hadn't woven in all the ends, though.