The Not so Tangerine, Tangerine Top

I finished my top late last night. Here is what the original top looks like :

It is from the book Positively Cochet! by Mary Jane Hall. I fell in love with this top. I like the top on the front cover too but it's this top that inspired me to buy the book. I probably should of used the tangerine yarn but didn't. Instead, I used 2 skeins of the light pink Caron's Simply Soft and the hot pink, also SS for the edging and trim.

I made some modifications to the top, not too many. Here's the detail on making the top:

I didn't read the directions very well, because I wanted to make the small but instead was making the xs. When I was done w/ the front, it wasn't going to fit so I added 2 more rows to the front and back (total of 26 rows). The top was pretty easy to make (all back loop dc) and it worked up fast. The sleeve for me was a little more difficult for me only because I've never done a bobble before. I don't like crocheting bobbles. The first sleeve took about an hour to do. ( The sleeves I made was in a medium for a looser fit around the arms, instead of 15 chains I did 17 chains and also for the sleeve opening, I left 22 dc unworked instead of 20). IThe first bobble sleeve does not look perfect...but after that I knew what I was doing and the next day, the other sleeve came out better. I thought the color I used was too plain, so I changed the edging to a hot pink and added the trim, which was 4 chains around the bobble and 3 chains around the dc. I added extra trim to the bottom. I also decided not to use the ribbon I purchased and made my own ribbon using a sc chain. I decided to move the ribbon down 1 dc row on top and added a row of the sc chain ribbon on the bottom too.


Overall, this was a good pattern. No problems. A small would of fit fine really. I had to re-read some of the instructions a few times (only because of my inexperience as a crocheter) to figure out what I was doing. The diagram in the book helped alot. I had fun and I liked that it worked up fast.



Here's a photo of me wearing my new top :D

I've also started on the simple shrug (from the same book). Again, I'm using Caron's Simply Soft. I may put it on hold to accomplish my goal - 2 daisy squares done by the end of next week!