Monday, December 22, 2008

FO: Gold Rosa

I feel like I've not blogged in an age, and my last few blog posts haven't been exactly eventful. The various distractions of living with three other people, cycling and the new job mean I've had little time for knitting, let alone blogging about it. There has also been the usual pre-Xmas secret knitting, so expect another FO post in the new year.

For now though, here's a good-un. Backstory: a while ago, I knitted this beautiful jumper, but it was always a little too big to fit the idea of the perfect aran I had in my head. So I gave it to my mother who is just the cm or so bigger than me needed to make it fit like a glove (plus she didn't have the perfect aran idea in her head to deal with). In exchange she bought me yarn to make Rosa. 

rosa done

Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton in bronze. About eight and a half balls.
Buttons: Brown shell ones from John Lewis, I turned them back to front so you could see the flaws which were more interesting and gave more bronze colours which I like with the gold yarn.
Needles: 2mm and 2.75mm circs.
Pattern: Rosa, by Kim Hargreaves, from the Thrown Together collection. 
Mods: I used a slightly heavier yarn, but done a size down. To give it a bit more consistency, I did the ruffles in wool-cotton instead of the pattern's suggested kid silk haze. And because these much thicker ruffles looked like scary little worms at first, I sewed the tops of them down too. I rejected her vertical rib sections and went for standard 1x1 ribbing instead. I also added a couple of button holes, but that was accidental (knitting in front of the telly whilst also arguing about how much to feed the fish...).
Verdict: A very wearable piece, and that's about the most important thing, right? It could be smaller*, but the short-row and side shaping Hargraves is so enamoured by does its job - it flatters in the right places. If I did it again, I'd probably do clever things to mean there was less picking up of stitches and less seaming because it wasn't the most fun knit I've ever done. 
Ravelled: here.

*New Year's resolution. Stop knitting everything so bloody loose. Or at least wash all my gauge swatches and go down more than three needle sizes if necessary, no matter how ridiculous it might seem. 

19 comments:

knithound brooklyn said...

Wow, that is a very flattering sweater!

Agnes said...

Wow! Very beautiful and the colour is so special!

Anonymous said...

I love that! Its so pretty!

Veronique said...

Love those rrrrruffles! And the color too :)

At Home Mommy Knits said...

Beautifully done!

Anonymous said...

I think it's rather fabtastic all over, the colour, fit and style!

mooncalf said...

That's a gorgeous top and I love the colour. Rowan Wool Cotton is the best!

Anonymous said...

really beautiful. good idea on those ruffles---the ksh would almost certainly hae been a nightmare, but those look great.

The A.D.D. Knitter said...

Oh wow, the color is sensational! Good luck with your resolution:)

Anonymous said...

It's perfect! The ruffles are fab and I love your choice of yarn. Sounds like the whole swap worked out very well. Enjoy your new top!

spajonas said...

such a cute top! i love those ruffles.

Anonymous said...

It looks gorgeous. The ruffles are perfect, even if they were a pain to put together. The whole thing just goes together beautifully.

Queen of the Tea Cosies said...

Ditto. Ditto and ditto.

alittlebitofscrap said...

This is stunningly beautiful!

Anonymous said...

I had not considered knitting Rosa until I saw your version on Ravelry. It's beautiful!

Astermeds Health Blog said...

Wow! It's awesome blog post here.... really very interesting for reading..... I enjoyed it. Thanks for the share.... just keep posting such an informative articles, I want to know more about this topic.

Unknown said...

Hello to every , as I am truly keen of reading this webpage’s post to be updated regularly. It contains nice information.Best advertising Agency in the world | top advertising agencies in pakistan | Marketing Agency | pakistani matrimonial

Unknown said...


I have no words to appreciate this post ..... I'm really impressed with this post .... The person who created this post was a big thank you man for sharing with us.
website development for companies | Low cost and high quality 2d animation | Advertising agencies in London

Ascent World said...

Enjoyed reading the article above, really explains everything in detail, the article is very interesting and effective. Thank you and good luck for the upcoming articles. Check this out

HACCP Certification in Mumbai