Isabella

I finished knitting Isabella right before I went to Rochester last weekend. I had been thinking that the bottom flared a bit too much, and after I seamed it (painstakingly, using mattress stitch) I realized that it really did flare. I did not appear to have a waist when I wore it. Since the sweater was knit from the bottom up, I used my mom's sewing machine and took out my scissors.

Usually I would never cut a hand-knit with scissors (unless it somehow involved a steek). The thought of re-knitting the whole sweater on size 3 needles with Cotlin was just too much. What I did was stitch straight down from the smallest part of the waist. I then zigzagged the row of stitches right to the outside of that line of stitches. Then I cut, and zigzagged the edge again. I carefully seamed the sweater again and now it looks like this:

This is the inside. The seam lays very flat, and from the right side you can barely see it. It may not be the most gracious solution, but I am happy with it.

(Something else you can see in this picture is how my tension has improved in stockinette: on the left is the back, that I did first -- notice the unevenness in the rows? And the front is to the right. There is still a little rowing out, but not nearly as much.)

The best thing about Cotlin? You can iron it in order to block the lace out. Obviously, it's time for me to plug in the iron....

Specs:
Isabella from Knitty.com.
Modifications: I knit size small to pattern. The decreases were too severe and so I would eliminate them if I made this pattern agan. My mod was to chop off that part.
Yarn: 6.5 balls of Cotlin in Island Coral from knitpicks.com
Needles: Knitpicks size 3
Completed: May 27, 2007

(All of these photos I edited at picnik.com. Check it out -- it's really great.)