Everest revisited

Seems despite all my brilliant calculations and maneuvering, my vest is too small. This surprises me. Very, very much.

NOTE: Now comes the portion of the program where I outline my brilliance and it's flawed outcome.
I used the 34" bust measurement, which yes, is a wee bit small but I was using Cascade 220 which 'grows' with washing. And it did, I swear. Longer and wider. They must have the shortest person in history trying on that vest because I added a full inch to the length and it is still too short. I mean, look at the picture, I here present Veste Everest (supposedly named after the yarn the designer used, I prefer to think it has a lot to do with the desire to say Vest-ee and a inordinate love of mountain climbing):I know that her shirt is hanging out the bottom but still.....my completed vest would have a full two feet of shirt showing. Where did I go wrong?

Well enough of the self-flagellation, the question really is, what am I going to do to fix it? And the answer is.....a revisiting of my veste. Here is one option:

Bottom: I could pick up stitches (one of my least favorite things) and add ribbing downward until desired length is achieved. Unless, of course there is someway to rib upwards and attach live stitches to bound-off bottom edge? please, please say this is do-able? I really hate picking up stitches.
Sides: I could pick up stitches along the sides and add a ribbed button band (with buttons naturally) thus providing a little extra something and a little extra give (the uneven blobs along the side of the pictured vest-ee would be the proposed buttons, I never claimed to be able to draw).
This leads to several questions. Should there be buttons on both sides or just the one? And if I alter just the one side with buttons should I add some buttons also to the top of the shoulder as well? Or should I just rip the damn thing out and make a new one since all these mods would take a bloody hell of a long time?