Archives for November 2019

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my Margaret Tudor sweater. I have not yet worn it because it has not been cold enough for me to do so comfortably.

So of course I’ve moved on to a new project. I started this on Friday:

This is another design from Alice Starmore’s Tudor Roses: Mary Tudor. I purchased the kit from Virtualyarns, here.

So far, so good! I have a much harder time memorizing a large-scale stranded design like this — traditional Fair Isle “peeries” are much easier for me to remember. But it is a lovely design and a very fun knit!

Loki is enjoying it too.

There have been a few questions in the comments asking why Margaret Tudor is worked in so many pieces?

I know the tendency these days is towards sweaters that are knit in the round with as little sewing as possible. I am not a fan of in-the-round sweaters or seamless sweaters in anything heavier than sportweight and for no good reason other than to minimize finishing work. Where there is a good reason to knit in the round (like stranded colorwork) I’m right there. Otherwise, I like the structure that seams give a sweater. My experience is that a seamless sweater knit in the round morphs into a shapeless blob. As I said, stranded colorwork is the exception — the fabric that stranded colorwork creates is firmer than one knit in one color so it gives some body to a garment.

Some may say that for this design, Margaret Tudor, the designer Alice Starmore has taken the whole seaming thing to extremes. But remember — this design is inspired by Tudor garments, and in Starmore’s own words:

I united the symbolic elements in a complex design that references the Tudor fashion for slashed garments, where the outer fabric is cut into openings to reveal another garment or fabric underneath. I placed my thistle in outer prominence, with the rose peeking through from panels set underneath.

So there you have it. Straight from the designer’s mouth.

I have no issue with seaming so have been having a lovely time putting the pieces together.

With that said . . .

In other news, Loki is helping me do laundry.

That is the number of thistles I have knit as I’m working on the Margaret Tudor sweater. I have all the thistle panels complete.

Sleeve One:

Sleeve Two:

Front:

Back:

As you see on the back pieces, I have completed one of the lace panels. I’m working on the second of six lace panels now:

And Loki is standing by in case I need him!