I had a great time with my brother. I was pretty depressed on the day he left. I tried to cheer myself up by eating wedges for lunch. It helped. I'm fine now though and have even more of a reason to visit London. I have photos but haven't gone through them yet. You can check out Chris's blog for a brief description of what we did while he was here.
So a couple of weeks ago after seeing the Ms Marigold pattern from Zephyr Style on Kris's blog I decided to knit it up in some Rowan Calmer that I had lying around. I bought the Calmer around Christmas last year and planned on knitting Tempting II, but it never eventuated. I had made a similar top and knitting all that stockinette stitch in the round again would make me go nuts. I've never knit with Calmer and didn't take into account just how stretchy the yarn is and after knitting more than halfway I realized it was going to be WAY TOO BIG. I started knitting the L-SIZE (38 inches) , had four balls of Calmer and was using size US 10 needles.
OH NO! I thought I could save it by ripping it to the bottom of the V, changing needles and putting in some waist shaping, but the problem was the bagginess in the top part....SO
I think that was last Wednesday night and I knew I needed to cast on straight away if I was going to maintain momentum. So I switched to US 8 needles and cast on for the M-SIZE (36 inch bust). After four days of crazy knitting, I now have a finished Ms Mari-brown and am wearing it as I type this post. It's not perfect and I'm thinking that I could have even knit the S-SIZE, but I really like the style and I'm happy with the way it turned out.
Sorry the photo is so dark - it really is hard to take a photo of dark knits at night in your bathroom!!
Pattern: Ms Marigold from Zephyr Style Yarn: 4 balls of Rowan Calmer Needles: US 8 for body and US 6 for ribbing and can't remember what size crochet needle I used for the frills.
I also added waist shaping to the body too.
This is a cute pattern and it works well with Calmer. I would say choose a smaller size than you normally are - the tighter the better with this pattern if you are using a stretchy yarn like Calmer.
Omg, that reminds me way too much of my Bad Penny experience! Looks wicked :)
Posted by: Jenn | June 27, 2006 at 02:28 PM
so cute! am off to kyoto tomorrow so have a fun week!
Posted by: Anna | June 27, 2006 at 03:44 PM
that is too cute! love the ruffles! it's a great fit as well and in calmer - yum.
i still haven't touched mine since realising i prolly won't have enough yarn. i think maybe i'll start over in the small size instead; i started the medium.
Posted by: kris | June 27, 2006 at 05:10 PM
i love it! i had actually thought about buying some calmer to make ms marigold in! i think you've now convinced me that is the way to go.
Posted by: jacqueline | June 27, 2006 at 07:13 PM
SUPERCUTE as usual Miss M :)
love love love the frills... you are one tenacious knitter... I would have given up after the first attempt... but look how lovely it ended up! good on you for persevering! xx
Posted by: lucy | June 27, 2006 at 10:26 PM
Looks fabulous!!! The ruffles are soso cute. And glad you had good times with your bro!
Posted by: Carrie | June 27, 2006 at 11:13 PM
That is absolutely sweet. I'm using Calmer for CeCe (ChicKnits pattern), and I am enjoying the yarn very much.
Posted by: Gina | June 28, 2006 at 12:17 AM
very very cute!! i'm glad it worked out!
Posted by: gleek | June 28, 2006 at 12:17 AM
Very cute!
Posted by: vanessa | June 28, 2006 at 02:06 AM
Oh if I see one more of those I am going to have to make it! Though I fear with my breastfeeding boobs it won't be very attractive. It looks great on you!
Posted by: Heidi | June 28, 2006 at 04:40 AM
great job, love the ruffles!!!
Posted by: Sandra | June 28, 2006 at 09:50 AM
It looks great!!
I hear ya on the departure of your brother. Sounds like you guys had a great visit - cheer up!!
Posted by: kathryn | June 28, 2006 at 10:27 AM
Wow, you finished that so quickly, and it looks amazing! I love those ruffles. It was great meeting you at the SnB last week -- unfortunately it may be awhile before I can come back, since I now have a class to teach on Tuesday nights. But I look forward to stitching and bitching again when my class wraps up later this summer!
Posted by: carolyn | June 28, 2006 at 03:53 PM
That vest is super cute! Is that what you were knitting last week? If so then I am majorly impressed!
Posted by: molly! | June 28, 2006 at 07:07 PM
Cute, cute, cute!
Posted by: alison | June 29, 2006 at 01:36 AM
I am about to knit this top and am wondering how you did the waist shaping. I didn't realize the pattern didn't have the shaping so if you could help me out I'd appreciate it. Thanks
Posted by: Tess | June 29, 2006 at 07:38 AM
wow! looks great kat! can't wait to start knitting for myself again! :D
Posted by: chris | June 30, 2006 at 05:21 AM
I'm gonna have to make that one...how cute that turned out...loving it.
Posted by: Erin | July 04, 2006 at 01:46 AM