Finished Kos Top

Today, the second of the #backtoschoolsweatercal blog hop posts is up - this time Jo of JoJoTwinkletoes has written about choosing a style that suits you, which is a very good place to start when you're choosing a pattern. Jo also shared pictures of all the lovely garments she has made for herself and you really need to see and be inspired to have a go yourself, so go and read!

Meanwhile, this week I have been working away on my version of the Kos top by Marie Wallin, which was in Issue 6 of Simply Crochet. I actually started this in May 2014, so I'm delighted to report that I have finally finished it! Yay!

The pattern is actually very straightforward, as there are lots of repeated sections, and the stitches used are treble and double crochet (in US terms - double and single crochet), slipstitch and chain. Although the pattern is made in 4 pieces, they are all rectangles so they are very easy to sew together at the end. The suggested yarn is Rowan Siena 4 ply and the sample was a beautiful, bright pink.

I wanted to make a "quick" test of the pattern, to see what it was like and if it would suit me, so I used a yarn I had available which matched tension - Drops Baby Merino in Beige, meaning to make a red version later. However I struggled with tension issues when I first tried to make it, and I wasn't happy with the "wobbly" edges. Lack of experience meant I didn't realise this could be fixed on blocking. I also decided that it probably wasn't going to be a good fit without adjustments, but I wasn't sure how to deal with those in a pattern for a bottom up and seamed garment. So into the "deal with it later" bag of doom it went.

I've dug it out a couple of times, meaning to give it another go, but I always felt too daunted to make the attempt. It was only when Fay started her "Festival of Finishing CrAL that I decided it was make or break time. With much more crochet experience now, I was able to come up with some adjustments that I thought would work, and I'm pretty happy with the end result.

It's a shame I didn't quite finish it in time to include in the CrAL, but the blocking took longer than expected, and then a headache stopped play for a while. I also don't like sewing pieces together - I'm always worried I'll ruin all my hard work, but I took it nice and steady while listening to the latest episode of The Crochet Circle podcast, and it was all quite easy in the end.

A quick overview of my adjustments -

• extra rows of the trebles pattern over the bust, because I have more bust than the model.
• decreasing above the bust to match the stitch count for medium, because I have a narrower upper chest
• dropping the front neckline to be more flattering to a larger bust.
• starting the back as size L and then decreasing to M (large butt, narrow waist and back)
• "gathering" the extra front rows to match the back without the extra rows - very experimental, and the jury's still out.

What's next? Well, Tamara of Crafty Escapism has just posted a list of CALs that sound very tempting, Helen of Making at Number 14 has just finished a gorgeous knitted jumper which would be fun to try, and then there's my Ravelry queue. But I did want to try toe-up socks, so maybe...?

Thanks for reading. See you next week!