Ishbel, now with nupps!
Let’s say you have a good friend from Estonia, and you want to knit something quick and lovely for her birthday. You see this on another friend’s blog, and you know your birthday girl likes Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, and she looks great in all shades of green…
But as you’re approaching the bind off (and running out of yarn two rows short of the goal… luckily there was still more of the Bronzed Green at The Knitting Bee), you realize something is missing. Ishbel is gorgeous as written. But you can’t knit a shawl for an Estonian girl without nupps, can you? And wouldn’t that bind off edge look fetching with little yarn pearls accentuating the points?
Ah, that’s it. If you’d like to nuppify the edge of your own Ishbel (and who isn’t knitting one of these? They’re like the potato chips of shawl knitting!), here’s how to do it: On the last RS row, k1; k into next stitch (but don’t slip it off the left needle)-yo-k1-yo-k1 all very loosely into that same stitch; work to the stitch between yarnovers and repeat the k1-yo-k1-yo-k1 into that stitch; repeat in every following stitch between yarnovers and in second to last stitch. During the purl-side bind off, purl the 5 nupp stitches together whenever you meet them, being careful not to involve the natural yo on the far side of the group. Since this is a p2tog-replace resulting st on left needle-p2tog again bind off, you’ll actually be purling six stitches together, but this is not difficult if you’ve made the nupp nice and loose. I accomplished it with an Addi Turbo, the world’s bluntest and slipperiest needle. I blocked Ishbel without any pins and found the Silky Wool was happy to show off her lace pattern with just a gentle smoothing. I pinched the nupps and tugged on them gently to make them stand proud to the RS and to highlight the scalloped edge.
There’s only one problem: now I want nupps on the edges of practically everything. Expect to see this treatment appearing in future Blue Garter designs…
Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 11:19 am
It looks fantastic! The addition of nupps at the points is just brilliant. So strange that I was able to get one out of just 2 skeins and you had to dip into a third, but such are the vagaries of yarn, I suppose.
Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Very nice! My Ishbel is sitting in its bag waiting for me to finish about 6 other projects before I can come back to it. I don’t think I have enough yarn to make any fun additions to it, but if I have a generous amount of yarn left when I get that far I will try it out!
Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Gawd it’s gorgeous! What a lovely color!
Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Gorgeous! And that is such an incredibly lovely shade of green.
Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
This is fantastic. I think I’ll knit another so I can nuppify one too!
Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
What a lovely modification! Your Ishbel turned out beautifully. I’ve knit 2 Ishbels already, and I must admit I’d like to knit another (perhaps with nupps).
Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 3:07 pm
So pretty! I love the color choice. Also, I’m cracking up imagining you nuppifying random bits of clothing, both knitted and non-knitted alike.
Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 3:47 pm
What a great mod on this pattern. Looks fabulous!
Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Lovely! But, then, everything is better with some nupps.
Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Ooo, so pretty! Bobbles and pom-poms and nupps, O my! Thank you for the instructions! Can’t get enough of these guys.
Posted: June 22nd, 2009 at 6:22 pm
HA! I want to NUPIFY everything now – even my sentences!
Your Ishbel is beautiful. Fantastic choices!
Posted: June 23rd, 2009 at 3:11 am
oooh! It’s fantastic. Green, solid, lovely. You have convinced me I want a green one and am casting on immediately. Genius adding the nupps too!
Posted: June 23rd, 2009 at 5:28 am
Pretty! I just adore that green, and the nups (which sounded odd when you mentioned them) turned out to be a fabulous addition.
Posted: June 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 am
A beautiful shawl!
Posted: June 23rd, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Ishbel has been calling my name, but now with your brilliant nuppifying, there will be no denying her. The nupps are the perfect detail.
Posted: June 24th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Clever! I may be the only knitter alive who hasn’t done an Ishbel, but now that I’ve seen it in green, I think I have to do one!
Posted: June 24th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
How pretty! And what a perfect gift for a friend. 🙂
Posted: June 25th, 2009 at 6:08 am
Love this Ishbel. Gorgeous color!
Posted: June 25th, 2009 at 8:10 am
So beautiful! I’m about to start the Swallowtail and I was debating the nups or the beads, but you’ve convinced me, nups it is!
Posted: June 25th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
That’s lovely – a real inspiration!
Posted: June 26th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
When I’m having a bad day, it will be good to remember that I helped (in the tiniest way) bring something this pretty to life. It looks wonderful! I think that you have now completely out-nupped me.
Posted: June 30th, 2009 at 5:51 am
What a gorgeous birthday present! I’m now off to check out the Ishbel pattern…
Posted: July 8th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Thanks for this! I am going to add them to my next Ishbel. (potato chip is right!) I also admire the earth goodness of the yarn color you used. Very lovely!