Bamboo on Bamboo

I have acquired some Classic Elite BamBoo print, along with a free pattern for a simple stockinette women's tank. I am now convinced that the multicolored yarn is a mistake, and I have no idea who might wear the thing anyway, but I am still excited about the bamboo aspect. Bamboo yarn on bamboo needles -- what could be more fun?

So I went ahead with a swatch (shown in my first post). My stitch gauge was spot on, but the row gauge was way off. Not too much of a problem -- row gauge isn't all that important in this pattern. I am worried, however, about the fact that upon wetting and blocking, my swatch shrunk significantly: from 20 to 28 rows / cm. (Stitch gauge remains the same.) That seems like an awful lot to me . . .

I decide I will trust the swatch, and add a little length to what the pattern calls for to adjust for shrinkage.

I am about to cast on when I decide I really ought to read the pattern all the way through, just like they always told me to. Good thing, too, because strangely the pattern skips from the beginning of the waist shaping to the shoulder shaping. It is going to take me a while to figure out how that's supposed to work. And for at least a moment, I do try to convince myself that this could be made to make sense.

But there is no getting around the fact that I am missing the critical page of the pattern. There is no convenient way to get it. And I want to knit my bamboo NOW.

So I am winging it.

Wish me luck.