dear heidi k, regarding my shellseeker...

I may owe you an apology. I've messed with your wonderful design. But I adore my Shellseeker.

It took me 3 tries to get it right. 
V1 finished last winter: too tight.   A double whammy of weight gain and gauge swatch fibbing. But you gotta love a top down pattern- I kept the sleeves and upper yoke, which just about fit, and ripped back to mid-bust . I re-knit down on larger needles.
That was V2, done last spring:   bad pooling over my stomach and hips. Like,  if I'd wanted to emphasize my width, I'd have left the kangaroo pocket and knit it in stripes, as the designer intended, right?. Still a little snug on hips. Also, the bottom ribbing kept flipping up.  RRRIIIPP out it came, back up to the bust, again.

One of the charms of the design is the front has side seam decreases with matching increases about 1/3 way across the front from each side, adding a nice line and structure but not actually adding stitches.
 V3 completed in December I skipped every other side decrease,  adding swing to the front. (Thanks to Kirsten Kapur and Mary Lou Egan for talking me down from the ledge of skipping all the decreases, I would have added like 8-9 " of swing instead of half that, and been on to V4.)
More V3 detail: I traded off skeins of the yarn, Malabrigo Rios in Pearl Ten so the pooling is less annoying, changed the hem to seed stitch, and exaggerated the split hem lengths, for added tush coverage. Let's see what else: no pocket in front, and a few rows of reverse stockinette in handspun along the neck and sleeves, which remains my fave detail on this .
Finally , about the loose fit:  by the time I finished the sweater in December, I'd lost weight -so it's got a truly sweateshirty fit (ahem no complaints) . 
As is obvious by my super unmatchy  shirt, pants and scarf,  this is the time of winter when I totally, and I mean totally,  give up on style.  Throwing this sweater on over whatever is Just The Thing.
Ok, leaving you with one more style thought:

My nephew and I have excellent taste in pants. Instagrammed at the zoo in DC, last weekend, in the snow/rain/slush.

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PS There's still room in a Photo for Knitters class I'm teaching on March 22nd at WEBS. Join me. It is a fab day trip, and when we're done shooting photos--umm, we're at Webs. Join me in escaping cabin fever!