Gardenia twin set

My Gardenia is finally an FO with all the loosen treads sewn in. Such a relieve, one less wip to hide and worry. For the past few days, I have been waiting for a nice sunny day but as the week went by the weather was getting worse and worse with dark clouds and rain. I attempted for a picture section yesterday morning but none of the photos were clear enough. Actually, the background was nice and clear in the photo except my FO. Unable to post them, I decided to take some indoor pictures at night and it turn out to be much better. Though I still don't enjoy much to have my curtains as a background. My younger son took the photos and he made sure you all could see my Gardenia top as he left out pretty much the rest of me. :)

Couple days ago,I wasn't very thrilled with Gardenia . The sides looked big , even blocking didn't help the cardi to stretch down. It could be the way the body was constructed as the back and front parts were knitted as one piece. Also, wearing them as set could be another factor. Perhaps I will have to wear the set separately or just to be more realistic, loose some weight! Now giving another try, buttoned up seems to make me look slimmer. Talking about buttons, I wonder if shell ones would give a modern lift to this cardi.
Well, looking from an angle it's not so bad. And with second thoughts, I am starting to like it with all the imperfections. After all, it was an elaborated design ( for me) with all those difficult crochet steps. Even if I don't get to wear it often, this FO will be nice to just look at and pat. ;)Since this is a "reunion of the twin set" ( borrowing the words from Peggy of kneurotic knitter), it deserves a photo .
And now the formal FO picture,

Pattern: World Knitting Spring/Summer 2004

Yarn: Sirdar Pure Cotton for the body . Crochet thread from Michaels for the lace part

Needles: Japanese size 4 ( 3.3mm) for knitting and crochet size 2

Modification: Resized to fit the gauge of my yarns.