Fabric Purchases 1667 (Newton, Isaac)

Bought to make Isaac's bachelor's gown:

ffor Woosted Prunella 8yds 1/2. 1 . 5 . 6
ffor the lining 4yds ———— 0 . 9 . 4

He also spent 16 shillings on a magnet.

More information here.

Isabella Review

Now for a picture of Isabella.


I wore it for the first time on Sunday. Up until then it kept being too hot: these photos were taken the day I finished it, about ten days ago.

Details:
Pattern: Isabella from Knitty
KAL: here
Yarn: Rowan Cotton Glace
Shade: 791, a pale fudge colour
Quantity: 6 balls (or was it 5 balls, or 7 balls?) with a teensy bit leftover
Stash busting: 6 balls
Time Taken: about 3.5 months from start to finish
Modification: changed sleeves, used yarn with a different gauge

I started this more or less the day Knitty came out. I got sidetracked with knitting of failed projects, plus other stuff going on. When I was actually knitting it, it went fast. I really liked the lace panel, and it seems to flatter my hourglass figure.

The original was sleeveless. However, I was worried I'd get sunburnt shoulders, so I added cap sleeves. I'm not sure they quite work. Dh knows to say only nice things about my knitting, but when I said the sleeves would go down well at a Star Trek convention, he said he had spotted the similarity. If I was doing them again, I'd probably decrease more in the sleeve section. Also, before washing, the armholes seemed quite gape-y, but they seemed to have settled a bit. I don't think I'll redo them.

The picot edging turns up as well, so I might redo that. Or I might not.

Sleeve modification:
The pattern says to:

• pick up stitches around the armhole,
• knit four rows
• do the YO, k2tog picot row
• knit four more rows
• cast off

What I did was

• pick up stitches around the armhole, starting at shoulder seam
• knit four rows
• calculated what one sixth of the stitches was (strictly speaking, halved then divided by three, which rounds slightly differently)
• short row sleeve section:
  
  • from top of shoulder (I had a marker), knitted one sixth stitches minus one
  • wrap and turn, and purl back to same number past the marked stitch
    (that is one third in total), but also purl 2 tog at top of sleeve
  • wrap and turn
    
  • knit back to one less stitch then before
  • wrap and turn
  • purl back to one less stitch then before, also decrease at shoulder seam
  • repeat for a total of ten rows
  
  
• Next row, knit all the way round, picking up wrapped stitches
• then the picot row
• then knit four more rows, but on the third, increase about four stitches on each outside curve of the short row shaping section.
• cast off, and sew up as described in pattern

I like the fit, although I'm not sure about the sleeves.

Next!

Leftovers from Isabella


plus a new book and some other yarn


equals

mystery project

Euler or Newton

I've spent the last week writing essays on the calculus after 1700 and on Newton's Principia. Let me tell you what I know:

On second thoughts, let's not...



PS the cherry plums are now very nice jam.

Sunday

I've finished Isabella at long last: I made some changes to the sleeve, which I will write up and include in a post, along with pictures.

There seemed to be a huge load of sewing up with Isabella, and having finished it, I continued with sewing in ends of some other projects.

This one is obviously Grrr from Knitty. I used some Patons 100% cotton, which had been in my stash for a while.

(This picture is genuinely the right way up.)

I really like the way it has come out: the front has a soft texture, and the back has a slightly harder texture for scrubbing grubby faces and hands. OTOH, it was a tedious knit, the stitch pattern needing too much concentration to watch TV while doing it, but too repetitive to want to sit and knit while doing it.

The second is a Mason-Dixon nine-patch washcloth. I enjoyed knitting the nine-patch. It used Sirdar 100% DK cotton.


I can really see the appeal of knitting washcloths. Nice small pieces that can be finished quickly, with as simple or as complex a pattern as you want. The problem with them - for me anyway - is that they aren't something I'd use. I could knit them and give them away: but then I'd have to spend ages explaining just why I'd knitted them, especially as you can (if you look at the right place and time) get quality face flannels for 75p. However a net-savvy knitter would appreciate one, and I have a reason for knitting them for such a knitter.

Oh, we picked the cherry plums in the first picture from the garden. It is the first time the tree has fruited since we moved here. Unfortunately the birds have been busy, and this is a fraction of what we could have picked if the birds hadn't got there first.