Tudor Roses - Elizabeth Woodville - Finished!

I finished up the knitting last weekend, but had to wait until this weekend for the buttons to arrive.  I found some metal buttons with a crest on them at M&J Trimming, which is where I go for ribbons and buttons.  For this project I picked a metal crest button in Antique Brass and 15 mm size.

I happen to have a full length skirt that I made out of silk that matches almost perfectly.

Pattern:  Elizabeth Woodville, by Alice Starmore from Tudor Roses (2013 edition)
Yarn:  Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 Ply (277 g in Red Rattle & 50 g in Whin)
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Tudor Roses - Elizabeth Woodville - Collar Done!

Not the best picture, I had to turn on the overhead light, but I wanted to get a progress picture before I started on the front bands.  The collar was pretty straight forward, although I did some tweaking because I wrapped on all my turns.  The decrease rows did a k2tog on those stitches with the next stitch, but there was no way that I was going to do that and work the wrap, so I adjusted my working of additional stitches on the previous short rows so I would work the k2tog just before my wrapped stitch and I could work the wrapped stitch as part of the next addition of stitches.  I had to be careful how I did the adjustments so I didn't mess up the stitch counts and thus the shaping.  It did take a little trial and error, some math, and a lot of counting, but I got it all to work out.  I've also been scoping buttons on line, but haven't made any definite decisions yet.  It is exciting to see it coming together, and even more exciting is the fact that it fits me perfectly.

Pattern:  Elizabeth Woodville, by Alice Starmore from Tudor Roses (2013 edition)
Yarn:  Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 Ply (277 g in Red Rattle & 50 g in Whin)
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Tudor Roses - Elizabeth Woodville - Two Sleeves Done!

Having figured out all of the shaping on the first sleeve, the second sleeve went quickly.  Now on to the collar and the button bands.  The collar should be pretty easy.  I've looked through the directions and I did not modify the neck shaping.  Because I modified the length, I shall have to pick up stitches on the front before I work the button bands so know how many picots to work for the cast on.  I also need to find buttons.  I shall check my stash first to see if I have anything suitable.

Pattern:  Elizabeth Woodville, by Alice Starmore from Tudor Roses (2013 edition)
Yarn:  Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 Ply (277 g in Red Rattle & 50 g in Whin)
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Tudor Roses - Elizabeth Woodville - One Sleeve Done!

I have mostly been working on this project this week.  I started working the first sleeve this past Sunday, picking up 77 stitches around the edge of the armhole.  After finishing the short rows to work the sleeve cap I worked the sleeve straight until row 48, which is just past my bicep.  I have fairly muscular arms and I always have to adjust sleeve shaping to keep the upper sleeve from being too tight.  Once I hit row 48 I did my decreases every 6 rows.  This is a little closer than is typical for sleeve shaping, but I like how it worked out on this pattern - it looks very period appropriate.  When I got to the cuff I worked the short row shaping and did increases instead of decreases, since I was working top down instead of bottom up.  I did a picot bind off to match the picot cast on.  The sleeve fit is perfect, close but not snug, nicely conformal.  The picots flip up until they are blocked.  My yarn usage is looking good too.  I checked what I have left of the Red Rattle and I shouldn't run out, but I am glad that I bought an extra skein.  With these patterns I am always buying a little extra yarn, just to make sure I have enough.


Pattern:  Elizabeth Woodville, by Alice Starmore from Tudor Roses (2013 edition)
Yarn:  Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 Ply (277 g in Red Rattle & 50 g in Whin)
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Tudor Roses - Elizabeth Woodville - Body Done

Last weekend I raveled and reclaimed the yarn from my initial start.  With all of the snow we stayed home on Monday, so I was able to finish up the body increases and work the left front and get a good start on the back.  Yesterday I finished up the back and the right front and joined the shoulders.  I pinned it out and spritzed it last night so I could check the fit.  I am very happy with how this is coming along.  The fit is perfect, just the right amount of ease, and the length is good.  I extended the depth of the armhole and did short row shaping on the shoulders, joining them with three needle bind off.  I will now pick up stitches around the armhole so I can work top down set-in sleeves, my preferred method.  It is so exciting when a fitted pattern comes together like this.  All of the prep work that I did has really paid off, and I have learned so much.  I didn't even mind knitting the bottom part twice.  It is worth it to get the finished results that I want.  I now feel confident that I can work through all of the patterns in this book, which was my original intent when I first looked through it.  I already have the yarn for the second pattern, and I've been looking at the third pattern and thinking about colors.

Here is the view from the back.

I have become a real fan of pinning and spritzing a work in progress to get a quick check on fit and drape.  It provides many of the same benefits as a full blocking, but is so much quicker.


Pattern:  Elizabeth Woodville, by Alice Starmore from Tudor Roses (2013 edition)
Yarn:  Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 Ply (277 g in Red Rattle & 50 g in Whin)
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Tudor Roses - Elizabeth Woodville - Increases Halfway Done, Almost

After pinning and spritzing last time I tried the fit so far and decided that I really needed more ease in the hips and that I also wanted the peplum to extend further down from my waist.  The original pattern does not extend far past the waist, and given how high waisted I am, that makes for a pretty short torso.  I pulled the needles out of my knitting, and cast on again.  I decided to go up a size for the bottom part, and work all of the decreases.  I also worked 3 rows between each of the decreases, whereas the pattern has the last few decreases occurring every other row.  This allows me to extend the peplum further down, and makes the shaping a bit more gradual than the pattern.  I switched back to the smallest size for the increases, which means that I will only work 9 of the 12 increases.  This gets me to the correct stitch count for the bust measurement of the smallest size.  I am also spacing the increases out more, working 5 rows between the increases instead of 3.  I pinned and spritzed my progress today so I could check my fit again.  I have completed 4 of my 9 increases.  At some point I will ravel and reclaim the yarn from my previous effort.

Pattern:  Elizabeth Woodville, by Alice Starmore from Tudor Roses (2013 edition)
Yarn:  Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 Ply (277 g in Red Rattle & 50 g in Whin)
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Tudor Roses - Elizabeth Woodville - Making Progress

I've been working mostly on this project and making steady progress. I actually ripped back to the start and redid all of the hem shaping wrapping all of my turns, which I think gives a neater appearance.  I could see small holes where I hadn't wrapped on the rows that turned against the garter row as opposed to the ones that turned against a stockinette row, where I did wrap.  Those little holes were bugging me, so I ripped and redid.  I've almost worked two complete skeins, but the piece was curling something fierce and it is hard to really see what you've got so last night I pinned it out and spritzed it to make it behave a bit better, and I'm glad to say that it worked.  I need to figure out my upper body shaping, where to start working the armholes because I need them to be deeper than the pattern is calling for, and my brain is a bit too fuzzy for that today (darn head cold), so I think I will go work on my Summer Breeze socks (I just have to finish up the leg of sock number 2) and read some more Phryne Fisher.


Pattern:  Elizabeth Woodville, by Alice Starmore from Tudor Roses (2013 edition)
Yarn:  Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 Ply (277 g in Red Rattle & 50 g in Whin)
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Tudor Roses - Elizabeth Woodville - Fresh Start

Almost exactly 2 years ago I started working on this project but I didn't get very far.  I knit one sleeve using different colors but I was worried about gauge and fit.  I did a couple of restarts but was never really happy with the results so I put it in a timeout.  It didn't help that I knocked a Dr. Pepper over and splashed a not insignificant amount into the project bag.  In the intervening years I have bought several of the color work kits they have offered, yarn for the second project in the book, and new yarn for this project.  This time I purchased more yarn than my size called for, to give me some cushion.  The original yarn will not go to waste, I'll use it for sampling and swatching.  Last week I pulled the yarn and the book back out and decided to go back to basics.  I swatched again, using the previous yarn.

The swatch on the right was done on the needle size the pattern calls for (4 mm), but is too loose.  It is not a bad fabric, if I wanted a wrap that had some drape.  I then swatched on US 3 (3.25 mm) and hit the gauge spot on.  I have gotten pretty good at knowing what size needle I should use with yarn to get the right gauge.  I then spent last week reading over the pattern and comparing the measurements of the schematic with my measurements.  The smallest size mostly works for me, but I'm high waisted and small on top, I need a deeper armhole, and my shoulders are fairly broad.  Yesterday I finally cast on.  This time I'm using Red Rattle as the main color and Whin as the contrast color.

These are far more my kind of colors than the original colors that I picked.  I like jewel tones.  I decided to work the body in one piece up to the armholes.  Instead of the cast on called for in the pattern - making a chain of picots and then picking up stitches - I did a regular picot cast on, knit two rows and then did the colorwork and switched to the main color as the pattern called for.  For the short row shaping I did each section separately, but did not break the yarn between sections.  I started with the right front and worked through the last right side row of the fourth decrease.  I then knit across to where the short rows start for the back and worked through the last right side row of the fourth decrease.  Because I had knit across to where the short rows started I wrapped and turned when I was working on that side of the back because I didn't have that purl ridge to work with.  I then knit across the left front and worked through the fourth decrease, wrapping and turning.  Then I purled back across the entire body, picking up any wrapped stitches as I went.  I'm skipping the decreases on the body and going right to the straight section after the last body decrease.  I'll work 4 fewer increases to compensate for not working the decreases.  I think this will shorten the body enough to account for my high waist.  I'll start the armholes early, to give me more room, and I'm going to knit the sleeves from the top down in the round, which should give me the fit that I need.


Pattern:  Elizabeth Woodville, by Alice Starmore from Tudor Roses (2013 edition)
Yarn:  Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 Ply (277 g in Red Rattle & 50 g in Whin)
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Tudor Roses - Elizabeth Woodville - One Sleeve Done

Last year Alice Starmore came out with an updated edition of her book Tudor Roses.  I have several of her books and have always loved her designs but I have never knit any of her patterns until now.  The updated designs in this new edition are beautiful, elegant, classic and I want to knit every single one, so that is my plan.  The patterns, fourteen in all, are inspired by women connected with the Tudor dynasty.  The book itself is beautifully put together, hard cover, over-sized, with heavy gloss paper.  It could easily be a coffee table book.  When I opened it and started leafing through the patterns I gasped in astonishment and pleasure and instantly fell in love.  I am starting at the very beginning with the first pattern - Elizabeth Woodville.  I am using the recommended yarn for the patterns, which I am purchasing directly from the Starmore's via their web site Virtual Yarns, although I am choosing my own colors.  The original design calls for Spindrift and Selkie.  I picked Corncrake for the main color and Mara for the contrast.

Pattern:  Elizabeth Woodville, by Alice Starmore from Tudor Roses (2013 edition)
Yarn:  Alice Starmore Hebridean 2 Ply (250 g in Corncrake & 31 g in Mara)
Needles:  US 2.5 (3 mm)