If Interweave Knits had sent me light pink yarn instead of light yellow, who knows--maybe I would have named my lace shoulder shell pattern "Captain Kirk"!* When it came time to send the written instructions to the IK editors, I thought that just naming it "Lace Shoulder Shell" seemed kind of boring. Then I had the idea to name it for a light yellow flower, and after deciding against "Daffodil" or "Freesia," I started looking for a nicely-named light yellow rose variety. Here are some of the names I rejected in favor of "Lutea": Peace, Soleil d'Or, Mermaid, Perdita, Topaz Jewel, and Golden Showers (yuck!). So that is what light pink roses have to do with knitting--not much, really.
But my Captain Kirk turned out rather well, I think. Pattern mods? Of course! Here they are:
I couldn't find any Classic Elite Sundance, so instead I used Misti Cotton, a worsted weight cotton/silk blend. I didn't do a gauge swatch (gasp!) but the gauge seemed to be just about perfect. There is some slight variation in the thickness of this yarn, but it didn't bother me--in fact I found it very nice to work with: soft, resilient enough, with a slight sheen. It blocked well too.
I customized the hip and waist shaping by casting on for size 36, then decreasing 8 times every 4 rows instead of 3 times every 8 rows, for a waist circumference of 
around 28". After working even for 7 or 8 rows, I then increased 6 times every 5 rows, meaning that I was left with a bust circumference of about 34" instead of 36". I worked the armhole shaping as if for size 32, which left me with the same number of stitches when it came time to do the short rows as size 36--so I followed the directions for that size.
The other change I made was to end the shoulder lace on a pattern Row 1 instead of 3. This is the yarn over row, meaning that the number of stitches was increased; I've read that in lace patterns, you want to avoid casting off on this row because of the tendency of the pattern to spread. However, when I made the Lutea sample, I found I had to fight the tendency of the lace to contract at the shoulder when seamed--even though I used a larger needle for 
the three needle bindoff, and worked very loosely--so I thought some spread might actually be a good thing! I did still use a US size 10 needle for the bindoff. I like the way the shoulders turned out--with more stretch than the original.
I considered doing a turned hem but decided to leave the simple stockinette bottom edge alone--yes, it rolls slightly, but I think of this as a pretty casual top, and the rolled edge is in tune with that.
*It's tempting to speculate on the whys and wherefores of that name: William Shatner's florid complexion, perhaps? His ever-youthful appearance in Star Trek reruns? Perhaps it's a rapidly climbing rose, exploring the garden galaxy, as it were. Or maybe it was just created by a Trekkie (but then why not "Spock," or "Uhura"?).
