Shadow Top in Rowan Felted Tweed - ZB301-00010-ENPFR - Downloadable PDF

Shadow Top by Georgia Farrell in Rowan Felted Tweed – Pattern Summary

About This Design

The Shadow Top is a knitted women's top designed by Georgia Farrell and published by Rowan. It is available as a downloadable PDF and is rated as an intermediate skill level project, making it well suited to knitters who are comfortable with shaping techniques and working with multiple colours. The design is a garment-weight top featuring a classic silhouette with raglan armhole shaping, giving it a clean, structured fit across a wide range of sizes.

Sizing

The Shadow Top is offered in an impressive nine sizes, designed to fit busts ranging from 71–76 cm (28–30 in) up to 152–157 cm (60–62 in). The actual bust measurement of the finished garment ranges from 83.5 cm (32¾ in) to 165.5 cm (65¼ in), providing generous positive ease across all sizes. This wide size range makes the pattern highly inclusive and accessible to a broad range of knitters.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a knitted women's top with raglan armhole shaping. The raglan construction is a classic technique in which the sleeves and body are joined diagonally from the underarm to the neckline, creating a smooth, angled seam line rather than a traditional set-in sleeve. This approach is popular for its comfortable fit and elegant aesthetic. The name Shadow likely reflects the tonal, textured quality of the finished fabric, achieved through the use of multiple yarn colours in a tweedy, rustic yarn.

Yarn and Colours

The pattern calls for Rowan Felted Tweed, a beloved DK-weight yarn sold in 50g balls. Felted Tweed is a blend of wool, alpaca, and viscose that produces a lightly felted, tweedy fabric with wonderful stitch definition and a subtle halo. It is known for its warmth, drape, and the rich, earthy tones it comes in — qualities that make it ideal for a top with colourwork or tonal interest.

Three colourways are specified in the pattern:

• Colour A – Vaseline Green 204: The main colour, requiring 4 to 8 balls depending on size.
• Colour B – Rose Quartz 206: A contrast colour, requiring just 1 ball across all sizes.
• Colour C – Alabaster 197: A secondary contrast, requiring 2 to 3 balls depending on size.

The combination of Vaseline Green, Rose Quartz, and Alabaster creates a soft, nature-inspired palette with a sophisticated, muted contrast between the earthy green, dusty pink, and pale neutral tones.

Needles and Tools

The pattern requires the following needles:

• 1 pair of 3¼mm (US 3 / UK no. 10) straight needles – used for ribbing or border sections.
• 1 pair of 4mm (US 6 / UK no. 8) straight needles – used for the main body of the top.
• A 3¼mm (US 3 / UK no. 10) circular needle, at least 50–80 cm in length depending on size – noted as optional in the pattern, likely used for picking up and working neckband stitches in the round.

Using a circular needle for the neckband is a common technique that allows knitters to work a smooth, seamless edging around a curved neckline, and its inclusion here as an optional tool reflects the pattern's thoughtful, flexible approach to construction.

Techniques and Stitches Used

As an intermediate knitting pattern, the Shadow Top employs a range of techniques that go beyond basic knit-and-purl construction. Key techniques and stitches include:

• Raglan armhole shaping: Stitches are cast off at the beginning of rows to set up the armhole, followed by paired decreases worked on right-side and wrong-side rows.