Saturday, March 27, 2010

Jabot

I think I’ve got it. Current plan is to add three more tiers – I’ll cast on one of them tonight, insh’Allah. Last night, I polished off the Mystery Project.



Dawn, Joannie Newsome did it your way, gathering the tiers by decreasing violently at the end. But what about blocking? I could put the stitches on hold and block before the final decreases, but I think that is more tedious than gathering by hand. You’re right, successive tiers won’t need edging at the top. That’ll make them appreciably quicker.

I spent an interesting half-hour last summer at Kinloch Anderson in Leith, kilt-makers to the royals, looking at jabots. I talked to a very kind, very grand man – surely Mr Kinloch or Mr Anderson. He said that when he wore a jabot, he didn’t include the lace cuffs because they tended to drag in the soup. For this year, anyway, I’ll skip them.

Maybe I can go back there with James in the summer and get him kitted out with a Montrose jacket.

Looking at the distinctly fruity jabots in both those links, I think I’ll go for four tiers on mine, and make the rest of them a wee bit wider. Could the bottom one be longer? Total length needs to be 10 or 11 inches, I would judge. The whole thing is ridiculous. I have said before that there is no country in Europe in which a man can do himself so well without joining the army.

The Koigu problem

It’s not as straightforward as I hoped yesterday.

The Kaleidoscope pattern, written for Koigu, is in garter stitch. I couldn’t face that, so soon after the ASJ. The Sock Yarn Sideways is written at 5 sts to the inch on no 5 needles, a bit more relaxed than I would like. Neither provides a schematic, making adaptation difficult. (Ravelry links to both in yesterday’s post.)

This morning I thought, what about a Koigu soul-warmer? No lice, of course. I have enough that I could do the whole thing in variations of a single colour, red (probably) or green. And I have a couple of skeins each of near-solid charcoal and of off-white, either of which could serve as the binding.

I’ll keep that on a mental back burner while I go on knitting the jabot.

Tamar, what I meant about the “false underarm seam” was the line where one round becomes the next one, not obtrusive but visible when you’re knitting lice as I discovered on the Grandson Sweater. However, the current notion does away with steeks as well as lice. The soul-warmer could be opened for the body part at any point on the sleeve. Couldn't it?

The new VK turned up yesterday and is, I think, very good. They’re definitely back at the top of the heap, design-wise. More about that tomorrow. For now, a final remark about

Cider.

Thank you for your comment, Fizz. I am glad not to have disappointed. I am sure you are right – the awful stuff is called “Diamond White”. As well as the tax increase due tomorrow, we are vaguely promised another one, later in the year, on very strong cider. Yesterday’s comment applies, in spades: he’s thinking of bums on street corners and Diamond White. But many of the honest, traditional ciders are strong (including my beloved Weston’s Vintage) and they will suffer.

5 comments:

  1. I've been following your thoughts on the "Soul-warmer" with interest. It sounds like a shrug. Have you tried one of these on? I knit one for myself, having seen so many in IK and other publications. However, although it is very welcome over a summer top if it turns cool suddenly, it is not a very flattering shape for me. The lack of shape across the back is the problem. Essentially it is just a stole with cuffs and seams for the sleeves. That is what I understood from the simple instructions you quoted.

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  2. GrannyPurple9:34 AM

    The sideways sock yarn uses a heavier sock yarn--6 ply, more of a sport weight--so the gauge would be a bit firmer than you thought. I am loving your jabot adventures!

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  3. Shandy and I have been thinking alike on the "Soul warmer". I've knit two, one for each daughter. Each was a rectangle with cuffs on either end with seaming to form the sleeves. The length of the rectangle, of course, determines the length of the sleeves.
    I'm following the jabot construction with much interest. Thank you for taking your readers through this process.

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  4. Dawn in NL7:01 PM

    Jean,

    That first tier attached to the cotton is looking good. It has given me the idea that perhaps each tier should be both wider and longer than the one before.

    My father often wore the kilt and had a montrose jacket, but no jabot. If he were still alive, I am sure I would be knitting one for him, having allowed you to do all the footwork.

    All the best,
    Dawn

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  5. =Tamar2:42 AM

    With each tier wider and longer, the jabot will be a marvel.

    I think I see; by "seam" you meant what I call the jog line, where the pattern shows that the next round has begun (unless you use one of the jogless-stripe methods). If one were to knit a tube and then open it (with or without steeks), it could be opened anywhere, not necessarily at the jog line. Steeks could be inserted anywhere too. Shaping could be done but it seems to me that the point of such a shrug is that it is simple. Once you add shaping more complex than wrists, you may as well knit a short cardigan and be done with it.

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