Cherry Blossom

Late on Thursday afternoon I got an IM from Zena saying....

It is done...

I am very tired so am going to bed.

Will block tomorrow. Should get some photos for you. Hopefully i can stretch it a bit during blocking, it's a bit snug at the moment!!

I could not believe she had finished it already. She is a machine!

This morning I received this in my mailbox....

Well it is done! I just laid it out to block and took some semi-happy snaps for you. Something seems to have gone west with my gauge as it is quite snug, yarn band says 22st/10cm, my swatch was 22st/10cm (just) so who knows what happened. before blocking it was more like a 33-34" than a 36" (I need it to be 35"). I've pinned it out to 35" but not sure how it will hold up. I am pretty dissappointed at this stage, as it feels like the shaping would be perfect if only it was a bit bigger. The buttons are just tied on so I could try it one properly although I quite like the simple mother of pearl and I think the size is about right too (will still need to buy buttons though as these are actually slightly different sizes/styles). Photo's attached for the fans.

Oh dear Zenes! I'm sure that once you try it on, the wonders of negative ease will kick in. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you darling! Doesn't it look fabulous though. I just love the colour.

Meanwhile I am still faffing with sleeves and spending way too much time thinking about buttons!

Here are the results of those deliberations.


Half an hour playing and dragging poor Chi Wai in to view five different button options! I also went through all of these options with the girls at SnB yesterday hoping for a unanimous decision which of course I did not get. I have managed to narrow it down to either the pink plastic flower buttons (two top squares to the left in the photo) or the creamy shell buttons shown in the centre square. Also note that I am planning to go for seven buttons rather than the five specified by the pattern in an attempt to limit gaping. See what I meant by "thinking too much about buttons"!!!

I have however finally made a decision on the sleeves. I've taken a similar path to what Zena has done. I wrapped the back ribbing section around my arm to see how many stitches I would need (61), cast on that many and then evenly increased after the ribbing to get to required number of stitches (74). I think it has worked okay. Sleeve one is knitted and blocking with sleeve two about half done on the needles. I still need to seam everything up and knit the button band and neck band. Still a little way to go before I catch up to Zena.

The saga continues.....