Ysolda’s Ishbel is nearly perfect in every way!
The point of this post was to blog about a pattern or project to which I aspire – maybe because it requires skills I don’t yet have, or maybe because it takes a lot of time. Instead, I’m going to write about a pattern that inspires me for a different reason: Ishbel, created by Ysolda Teague. I’ve knit this twice, with a third one on the needles:
purple and small, with Sunday Knits Eden
greenish and pretty big, with madelinetosh wren
big and in the works, with madelinetosh lace
Why does this pattern inspire me? First, it’s great fun to knit – and lots of people seem to agree, since Ravelry lists 6400 projects and it’s in 3268 queues. (At £3.00 GBP, Ysolda has done very well with this little project! Good for her!). The main reason this pattern inspires me so much is that it’s very cleverly written while still being a LOT of fun to knit. Scientific theories that explain a phenomenon with an economy of variables are called elegant, and that describes Ysolda’s patterns. Ishbel hits all the marks, which is kind of great: it’s fun, it’s changeable (you can make the stockinette section larger or smaller, knit more or fewer repeats of each of the lace sections, etc), the end result is not just beautiful but also very practical, and it has clearly generated a very good amount of money for the designer while being inexpensive for knitters.
I’ve knit (or should I say, tried to knit) other patterns that were beautiful and ‘clever,’ but they were just fussy and kind of ridiculous in their cleverness. There’s no need to name names, because maybe I was just not a skilled enough knitter and others could easily manage the pattern, but there was one scarf that just made me so angry and you know? Who needs that in knitting! But Ysolda’s patterns are clever in the very best way, and I think Ishbel is a great example of her design philosophy. I would love to be able to do what she does; instead, I’ll just benefit from her talent. Me and thousands of other happy knitters.
Read the other posts on this topic: knitcroblo2
I agree, this is a very beautiful pattern, and now you’ve made me NEED to knit one for myself too
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The lime is my favorite, but all tree of them is nice and special. Congratulations and well done.
Have a nice day
Henriette
Thanks for the comment, Henriette! If you knit Ishbel, you’ll knit another Ishbel. I don’t know why everyone seems to knit several, but they do.
Oh, I’ve got this pattern in my queue, can’t wait to knit it now. Both of your samples are gorgeous!!
You’ll have fun with it! Thanks for the nice comment – I’d love to see Ishbel in a non-wool yarn!
Your shawls are lovely. I love knitting lace shawls. Ishbel is another pattern to add to my long list. So much to knit, so little time.
Whoa! Your Nightsongs shawl is amazing! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, because it led me to your blog…..which is one of the great things about events like this.
As I told you already, Ishbel is a pattern I urge to knit but that I’m afraid to knit at the same time. Can’t tell you why I’m so scared.
As I need a trigger, I think I’ll try to knit it for my birthday, as a gift from me to me ! As I was born in november, I have time enough to think about it
Given the beautiful things you knit, Ishbel will make you very happy. Who knows why we get these blocks! I literally cannot seem to force myself to try the toe-up sock. Just can’t do it, it’s very mysterious.
My birthday is in November too (the 6th), so I’ll remember your goal and will hope to see something very beautiful from your needles.
That is gorgeous! I would love to have one of those, since I don’t knit (well just learning) it’s unlikely…but love the Madelintosh Wren – ummm yarn shopping here I come!
Even though Ishbel is easy, it wouldn’t be good for a brand new knitter; but it’s a great pattern once you’ve knit a couple of things, especially a simple lace chart. But you can’t go wrong with any madelinetosh yarn; it can be hard to find specific yarns and colors, because she makes them all herself, but it’s worth the pursuit, I guarantee!