The slip stitch edging is easy enough to do, just hard to remember. I ended up with a couple different pieces of paper to write notes to myself and to keep track of decreases. The first three (or) four eyelet holes were a bit confusing because the pattern calls for decreases at both the armhole and neck edge but not necessarily on the same row. Best advice? Write it down.

Armhole shortening? I stopped knitting when they were approx. 18 cm. I think. My favorite tanks are all between 17-19 cm so that's what I used. I did my last decrease on the row after my last eyelet instead of knitting on as the pattern suggests. I didn't do the short row shaping. Another trick for another day. Three needle bind off is awesome, though!

As far as neckline shortening? Fuggedabout it. Knit the pattern as written. When finished, lace a strand of yarn (or ribbon for you classier ladies)up through the eyelet holes. It's the "in" look, or so my neighbor tells me. Hubby thought it most sexy. Closes it together just enough and allows a hint of cleavage. And for those with no cleavage? It provides it. Two tricks in one. Can't beat it. ;)

It's either a sexy trick or a lazy one. You decide. :)

Hooray for starting over! I know you showed both decrease versions before, and at the time, I liked the other version better. However, either you've done a better job with them this time or they show up better in this color yarn (maybe both) and now I like this one better. Regardless, I like the color and your decreases look great.

Alison...I'm sure I'm being dense but where do I find the Smooch pattern? Email me, please?

Mmmmmmm, Smoochie goodness! Your lace edging looks great! It's taking all my self-control to not drop everything I'm doing and start immediately!

Hi Alison, I've been toying with the idea of knitting Smooch. I've decided to knit it. May I please be added to you "blue" list for Smooch? I'll probably get it started next week.

Since I don't have the body for Smooch....I'm going to make it for my daughter, who does! Why she picked the off white yarn is beyond me, but oh well. Would you please add me to the blue list? Don't know when I'll get started, but it looks like fun.

Smooch is finished. I did shorten the neckline, I just started the shaping the same place as the armhole shaping and followed the directions exactly. If the neckline were any lower it would have been unwearable. It all came out very nicely and blocked well. BUT! Even though I made the larger of the two sizes I was contemplating, I should have gone a size larger still. Not sure I'll ever wear anything this tight in hot weather... just the thought sounds sticky and uncomfortable.... do I dare contemplate ripping the whole thing out and starting completely over? Only took a few days to make, so maybe....

Alison,
Can you find out the amount of yarn for the largest size of pagan for me? Pretty Please?

Where is the smooch pattern? Could you help me?? Thanks

Thanks to Kerstin and Anne for your tips. (Did you all see Kerstin's great solution for the plunging neckline? Check it out.) And welcome to the newest smoochers, Jessica, Sharlyn and Deb.

To those looking for the pattern, here it is one more time: The Smooch pattern is in a Rowan book called the All Seasons Cotton Collection. It's listed on the sidebar with the picture, but since the book is named after the yarn it's hard to know that that's the book's title. There are several places online that have the book, if you can't find it at your LYS. Let me know if you decide to join us! :)

I received an email from Johanna generally explaining how she dealt with the neckline. Here's what she did:

"I did not shorten the armholes at all. I'm glad that I didn't because I think that they would have been too small.

I started the neck six rows (not twelve like it said) before the armhole started. This added one extra row of eyelets.

I didn't change the decreases but I definitely would change the K2tog tbl to ssk so that it is flatter."

Thanks, Johanna!

I've been swatching on & off all day: in between doing this or that with the kids... does that make me pink or do I need to cast on first? LOL...

I'm working on the modifications for: doing this in the round & MAYBE making it a couple of inches larger than the largest size...if I add extra stitches, will it cause any problems with the armhole shaping?

Janine: The largest size of smooch requires 6 balls of the All Seasons Cotton... I think that's roughly equivalent to 600 yards of a heavy worsted weight yarn... hope that helps!

More info from Johanna about how she did the neck on Smooch:

"One other thing that I forgot to mention
yesterday, and I don't think that it has been discussed is when are the decreases done? The pattern says to do it in the first eyelet row,
then do the eyelets every six rows, the way that it it reads after that (again, no pattern in front of me) is to do the decreases every six
rows also, but it starts one knit row staggered. This would mean that you are doing an eyelet row, a purl row, a neck decrease row, a purl row, a knit row, a purl row, then back to the eyelet.

Here is what I did. Row numbers are from last increase so row 17 is where armhole shaping
starts (like on the back).

Row 11: first eyelet (33 st for small)
Row 13: Dec 1 (neck) (32)
Row 17: Second eyelet, bind off four at arm edge (28)
Row 19: Dec 1 (neck) dec 1 (arm)
Row 20: Dec 1 (arm) (25)
Row 21: Dec 1 (arm) (24)
Row 23: Dec 1 (arm) third eyelet (23)
Row 25: Dec 1 (arm) Dec 1 (neck) (21)
Row 27: Dec 1 (arm)
Continue doing eyelets every sixth row, and decrease every K row after
eyelets until (14)."

Thanks Johanna. Having those numbers to refer to really helps!

Jessica, I think you could just leave those extra stitches in all the way up (less work and worrying that way!). It looks like the tank is cut pretty narrow through the top, so keeping those extra stitches through the whole tank is probably a good idea anyway.

I am making Smooch for my sister for her birthday and would like to be added to the knitalong. I'm late to the party but was so inspired by your knitalong group. I was very confused about the lace edging before finding your comments on your site. Thanks soooo much!!