A new top

I have been knitting around the clock, whenever I can't sleep making Stephanie's new top. She is a lot more pleased with it than the picture depicts- she is not impressed with having her photo taken. It appears she has not only inherited my fear of spiders, but also my discomfort in front of cameras!

I am really pleased with the top, it seemed at times slow to knit, possibly (OK almost definitely) due to my lack of experience knitting- 200 stitches in one row is the most I have ever knitted with. It was however a very simple and well written pattern I was able to follow it easily. The pattern was this  King Cole top I did not use the recommended yarn from the pattern, Stephanie chose this Teddy soft spot.

Stephanie chose the yarn in a little shop in  Caernafon, North Wales I forget what the shop was called (sorry!). At the time o choosing she wanted me to knit a cardigan which required 2 balls of wool, however by the time we got home she had changed her mind and wanted this top. No problem I think until I got around to beginning the project and realise the pattern calls for 3 balls of wool, I had 2. After a quick Internet search I found the wool in stock at Top Stitch. I was dubious about ordering a third ball as there was a high chance that the dye batches wouldn't match but short of driving the couple of hundred miles back to North Wales I had little choice. I placed the order and  was very impressed by the service, within 2 days I had my yarn and was amazed and very impressed that the dye batches were the same.

I knitted up the top and found I used less than 2 balls of the Teddy yarn, never mind Stephanie has already put me to work knitting her some matching socks.....