In Which My Enthusiasm Runs Away with Me

Last time you saw the brown "shell" I'm knitting, progress had made it to the waist. In the week since then, I have finished the hip increases and the fold-under hem at the bottom. Then I added an edging around the arms. (As far as I can tell, there's none written in the pattern, but the stockingnette stitch curls under terribly.)

Tonight I finished sewing the hem in place and managed to get it blocked:

Lovely, no? Well, wait, something doesn't seem right... After I was done casting off the bottom, I looked at the pattern again to double check (again) about the arm trim. And wait, what do I see here?

This is the picture from the pattern. The lovely lace that I really liked, and wanted to do, even in dark brown, is somehow absent from my finished piece. I realized I thought I knew what was coming in the pattern and after I got the front and back all put together and the horizontal band done, I just raced on down to the bottom. And I raced right past all that lace!

I'm pretty bummed. I had brief thoughts about ripping it all out. And I had an even briefer thought about just ripping the front section back and trying to knit up just that section. (It would be a nightmare.)

So I will live with it. And try to remember next time that if I want to follow a pattern, I should actually read it.