Tank abandoned (temporarily)

I decided this morning (this entry is backdated, so we're talking about yesterday morning) to temporarily abandon the ballerina tank top. I've come to the neckline part of the directions after completing all the increases, and the directions seem to indicate that I start the straps at the very edges, and that just doesn't make sense to me. Aren't the edges the sides? How could I wear straps that way? Then I was thinking about just measuring on my own body the length between the middle of my side to the middle of my chest and then check my gauge (or at least attempt to!) and bind off the correct amount of stitches and then start there? But then looking at some tank tops I own (none of which are knitted) and some online, I notice how the tank slopes in and up at the edges, which is either a combination of binding off and decreasing I'm not sure how to accomplish. Are the directions wrong or am I just not understanding the directions? Will this ever fit me? We were at a coffee shop on Friday night, and a woman who was wearing a knitted tank caught my eye, Perhaps hers was store bought, perhaps it was knitted, but I wasn't close enough to tell. But as I was working on my tank, I realized that I didn't own any knitted tanks nor have I ever coveted a knitted tank (and it's not as if I don't know how to covet!) I'm not sure if I even like knitted tanks! Anyway, so it's abandoned, for now, until someone can help me figure out how to finish it. I will have enough yarn to complete one side with the shine twist in harvest and one side with the shine in apricot, though. At least that's what that looks like. So I started a new project -- the ridged ribbon scarf for my father's birthday (August 16). I don't know what I'll be doing this summer, so it seems good to do it now while we're not away. The stitch pattern is from The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches. It's made out of Southwest Trading Company's Phoenix -- a worsted weight, 100% soy yarn -- and the color chocolate. Like chocolate soymilk -- yum!!! I learned a couple of things from this scarf, so far. One, I can use math to figure out my knitting time. I know this isn't a novel concept, but I've really been avoiding math like the plague for a while now. It takes me 10 minutes to complete a pattern repeat, and each pattern repeat is 1 1/2 inches long. If I want a 75 inch scarf, I have to make 50 pattern repeats. 50 pattern repeats will take me about 8.3 hrs. to complete. Seems daunting, but it's good to know so that I space my time out to get it done. Second, I started the scarf with the recommended US8 needles for the yarn. The resulting fiber was rougher and tighter than I'm used to (I rarely use the suggested needle, almost always higher, since I wasn't making things that have to fit for the most part). So I decided to go up to size 9 but since Aaron fell asleep on the couch by where my needles are, I went up to a size 10, which was only 2 rows into another project (the IK shrug), so I ripped it and started with those. I was much happier with the feel of the fabric (though it's not buttery soft like shine/shine twist or classic elite bamboo), though I noticed that because the scarf was looser, it doesn't stay firm and tends to curl more. I've noticed that in other scarves I've made before, but for my father's scarf, it seems like it should lay flat. Perhaps I will try to block this, though I've never blocked my knitting before. I'm also getting better at memorizing a pattern and "reading my knitting" to see what I have to do next. And perhaps I'm jinxing myself, but over 10 repeats in, and still not mistake that I haven't caught and promptly fixed! I finished a couple more repeats while I watched EASY RIDER, and then I went to sleep.