Bloomin’ marvellous

That appalling pun indicates that I have a finished object at last – woohoo! Bloom from Rowan 36. I was out on the raz last night, and while I didn’t drink enough to get very drunk and feel ill this morning, I was in bed about 3am and up and about by about 7.30am, so I am a tad rough and fragile today! No pics in action, but there are pics…
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I used mostly Rowan yarns for it. Felted Tweed in Dragon (a dark grey green) for the body of the tank, and 3 balls of Kid Silk Haze and one of Jaeger Mohair Art for the blooms on the shoulder. Felted Tweed is lovely to work with – really smooth on the needles, soft on the hands, and slubby enough to be of interest without messing up gauge and the run of the fabric. It has just the right amount of give for a top like this too. Lovely stuff to use.
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This pic isn’t really fully accurate for the colours – I think the first pic is closer. The Jaeger is a cream colour, kind of a nutty cream rather than vanilla and I used that for yarn B. The KSH used were 589 Majestic (the lilac for yarn D), 584 Villain (a dark reddish chocolate brown for yarn C), and 588 Drab (an olive green for yarn E – its from the ones for the lace cami from Weekend Knitting). The Jaeger was quite nice to use, but not as nice as the KSH. I’ve used it a little on the lace cami from Weekend Knitting, but this time it was doubled over, and obviously not in a lace pattern, and it was lovely to use. Very soft, and doesn’t shed any fibres, or doesn’t seem to. I’d love to make a little top out of it knit straight or something, but buying more stash and patterns to match it is not an option right now (remember I promised myself!)
It took almost as long to do the crochet as to knit it – I started crocheting yesterday and it’s taken me to the middle of the afternoon to finish. I still have pins and needles in my finger and thumb from gripping the hook too tightly on the bit with the size number raised on the handle (my own stupid fault admittedly) 🙁 I also had the same problem that a lot of people have had with the pattern – the shoulders were massive! I should have taken a before pic with me wearing it yesterday to check the sizing, as they were flopping all over the place. I used the same method as them – sewing a seam on my machine to where I needed it, trimming the excess knitting off, and doing a zigzag stitch to stop it unravelling. It adds bulk a little to the seam, but looks much better on that it did before! I’ve no idea how you’d fix the short row shaping for it, but I’d certainly add less stitches at the casting on for the arms, as I cut off over an inch each side of the seam at the worst bit, and a little less than an inch overall at best.
In general though, I’m pleased with it. Next things I want to finish are the shrug and the second sock. I bought a shrug (just a cheap material one) to wear last night and decided it was a rather good thing and that I looked ok in it, so I’m happy to get moving on the knitted one, and am already thinking about designing a simple stocking stitch one for myself with some of the stash.
Anyway, if anyone has any ideas for using almost full odd balls of Kid Silk Haze let me know – I know there is a glove pattern using one ball, and that I could probably make up a little stripy scarf or something, but I feel I might be able to give it more justice than that. It’s so nice I want to make it happy and wear it close to the skin instead of as an ornament like on Bloom. Oh, and btw I’ll be swapping from Movable Type to another blog provider although the web address will be the same. MT have changed their licence since I signed up, so DB has found me another one that is actually more usable and is easier to play with, so once I’m happy with its set up, I’ll switch over.

4 thoughts on “Bloomin’ marvellous”

  1. That looks lovely! I can’t wait for an action shot. You know, I was fooled by the pic in the magazine, because she’s wearing the top over a dress or something that has a frilly sheer cap sleeve. I had thought at first that that sleeve was part of the top and loved that look. I think it would be fun to try to whip up a little sleeve out of the remaining KSH.

  2. Oh wow – it’s lovely! The flowers are gorgeous, and the fabric of the felted tweed looks really special! People always rave about how amazing felted tweed is, I need to try it 🙂
    As for the extra KSH – because the yardage is so good you can make quite a lot with what you have. Like lacy scarves and stuff….

  3. This is great. I have just started and put a progress shot on my blog – I’m doing felted tweed in conker. I’m so worried about having this shoulder problem but unwilling to change the pattern at this stage – I’m making the largest size so I hope it’s only smaller sizes that are out of proportion (may be a vague hope). It looks great and I can’t wait for an action shot. I am skipping the flower and going to wear it more as a vest over long sleeve tops. Must feel great to have it finished!

  4. That is so lovely!! I would love to see an action shot as well. The color is marvelous and it looks so comfy! It may need to be put on my to do list!

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