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.