Blooming Brioche KAL - Stage 3, and Done

Are you still waiting for the end of the knit-along I did last fall? The clues were released a week apart and I kept up with the knitting, but it looks like I didn't keep up with the blogging. I wrote about the swatch here and clues 1 and 2 here in case you want to get up to speed.

I really enjoyed the pattern. It was the first time I had done anything but plain brioche and this one involved a lot of multi-step increases and decreases. I certainly "stretched" my chart reading skills - there are a lot of new symbols in the charts. (But for me still a lot easier than line by line instructions - yuck!) The designer also posted video tutorials each week for new techniques.

Each stage of the knit-along built up the "blooming" theme.
Stage 0 - Preparing the Ground (swatching)
Stage 1 - Roots, Seeds, and Bulbs (cast on and first two shapes)
Stage 2 - Sprouts, Leaves, and Vines (three more designs)
Stage 3 - Stems, Buds & Petals (more designs and cast off), which you can see in progress below:

The petals are finished with a cast off that highlighted the petal shapes and continued the contrast lines of the design. This is what really drew me to the design. I would have liked to put three pins in each petal to create a rounded shape on each petal, but that would have been more pins than I own!

Even putting only one pin in each petal used most of my pins!

Blocking

I am happy with the shawl but not happy with the yarn choice. It could have been better.

The two yarns are a different weight and one is a single ply and the other is a multiply (which gives them a different "feel" and drape.) The green on the back reflects light and looks vibrant, but the red/orange on the front seems to swallow the light. I'm not looking for neon but something more luminescent would be nice.

I love the build up of the pattern from round bulbs, to stems, leaves, and buds through to full blooms.

I ran out of green on the second last row. I was eager to continue so I searched through the stash and found something very similar.

You can hardly tell the difference, but after I was done knitting the green I realized I should have used the green from my swatch. Felt a little silly for not going there first. (Reminded me of the time I searched through all my buttons to replace one on a shirt. After it was sewn on, I remembered and found the spare buttons sewn on the shirt seam. Sometimes I'm really not that bright.)

I plan to work a smaller rectangle sample of this design (when I find the right yarn :) that would be suitable to hang on a wall. We'll see how it comes out.

The shall is the size that I wanted - I made the smaller version of the pattern.

Showing the back.
The shawl isn't reversible and the back doesn't make
a very organized pattern, but it's pretty in its own way.

I mostly wear it wrapped around my neck, like so:

Part way though the winter I remembered this green pea coat (I guess it's also pea green!) I had. It was still packed away for the summer. It was the perfect partner for this shawl.

But sometimes around the house when I'm chilly, I have worn it over my shoulders too.

I can't wait to do more projects with this designer's patterns - she's brilliant. "Stacked" stitches are next for me!

Project Stats
Started: 8 Nov '18
Finished: 26 Nov '18
Pattern: Blooming Brioche KAL by Xandy Peters
Materials: DeepWater DyeWorks Lush (Aztec), 100 grams, $22, in stash since 2015; madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light (Leaf), 100 grams, $25, in stash since 2014
Ravelry project page: Blooming Brioche KAL, $7