Rogue: February 2004 Archives

I tried Rogue on over the weekend and it was too tight. I mean - tight. As in no ease. As in form-fitting.

I know what you're thinking. Didn't she swatch? Yes. Maybe she didn't swatch in the round. I didn't, but that's because my purl rows are the same gauge as my knit rows. And that's not what caused this to be sized so small. Maybe she made the wrong size? Nope, that's not it either.

Rogue is too small because I chose to make it that way. Ya see, I'm on a diet. And when I decided to make this for me - now - I was faced with a sizing dilemma. Aftern hemming and hawing about which way to go, I decided to make it about 1.5 sizes smaller than I was when I started. I've since lost about 7 pounds (yay!). Yesterday I fit into my small jeans. You know, the ones I fit into for about 2 months last year when I had the temporary willpower to take off 8 pounds.

And that brings me back to Rogue sizing. What better motivator than hours and hours of work to keep me on a diet? And looking at it and slipping it on does just that. There's no way I want to give this baby away. And there's no way I want to fess up to you all that I couldn't do it. So there ya have it. My biggest diet motivator - my knitting!

OK, so that was a mean - tricking you all into thinking I made the sweater too small. So maybe this will get me out of the doghouse.

Russian Join

I'm sure some of you have used this before, but for those of you who haven't, listen up!

Do you have trouble joining a new ball of yarn?

Or, do you hate darning in all those ends before you get to say you're done?

Well, Russian Join may just be the answer. I was at PerkFection last night for knitting night and I showed the ladies this technique and thought I should share it with you all too. The instructions are here.

I've used this method on a variety of gauges of yarn. I haven't tried it on something as fine as a sock yarn, but other than that I think this would work for ya.

Curious what one looks like? I show you Rogue, done up to the armholes:

There's a russian join on the pocket. I kinda know where it is and still I can't see it. I will say that sometimes after a few rows I'll go back and play with the tension a little bit on the few stitches that have the doubled yarn. Maybe even trim the yarn a bit more if the end comes to the front. By by and large this is my favorite method for joining.

Can I tell ya how much I love sock knitting? An astute friend observed that it's just my ADD and this is my shiny object du jour, but I still love it nonetheless. I really expected it to feel like it was going slower, but the progress does come pretty quickly. I'm using 3.25 mm (US #3) so they're not as small as some sock needles. Maybe that's why. I'm almost to the heel shaping point:

There's one tiny thing that's bothering me though. Has anyone else noticed tiny spots of white in their Koigu? I have 2 or 3 spots on the sock so far. It's only a stitch or so on each spot, but it's still bugging me a bit. If you look closely you can see one of them in the second orange stripe from the top, by the ball of my foot. In this case it's only a half a stitch. Go ahead...tell me I'm just being too picky.

And, when I'm not knitting socks I've been knitting Rogue lately. I'm just above the point where you join the pocket back in with the body:

I do love the way this one is coming together. The color is great! I'm still a bit concerned about the vertical bars in the st st but I'm holding to the theory that it will relax once washed a few times. Has anyone else had this issue with single ply yarn and successfully resolved it?

Hmmm....looks like I'm full of criticisms today. In general I'm really happy with the way both of these are progressing. I guess when you spend soooo much time on something you just want it to be perfect.

I finally remembered to bring home my card reader yesterday so I can show you some pics. I'm really happy with the progress I've made lately. In fact, it seems that I've become more productive since I added Rogue to the list :)

Speaking of Rogue, here's where she is right now:

I'm using Lamb's Pride Top of the Lamb which is a single ply wool. Can you see the lines along the right side of the knit stitches? I've been reading about it and learned that single ply yarn can cause that. I've also read that after a couple of washings it should relax. I hope so. While it's not horrible it gives the fabric more of a texture than I'd like.

As for the Cabled & Ribbed sweater, I've been switching between it and Rogue:

I'm about 6-8 inches from completing the front!

As far as baby stuff goes, thanks to all of you who sent me suggestions. I'm going to look for something acrylic or cotton/acrylic so it's both easy care and lighter weight. Christine - I love the whirly baby hat! While I don't think I'm going to make up hats for these 2 late spring babies I've bookmarked it for colder weather births. I love the swirl pattern the hat made on top.

I know I promised pics but I left my card reader at work and I'm stuck at home waiting for the heat repair man to get here. So, pics will have to wait til tomorrow. But, I do have alot of progress to report...

It's amazing how much knitting you can get done on a cold weekend! I did a good amount on Rogue and even pulled out the Cabled & Ribbed sweater!

Rogue

This pattern is just wonderful! I love the way she designed the kangaroo pocket. The decreases are hidden in a purl stitch and the pocket softly curves in on both sides. A couple things I did differently than the pattern:

• I knitted in the hem with the twelfth row. I hate finishing and will go to great lengths to avoid sewing. If you decide to do this just keep in mind that at row 12 you have done a few increases in each cable on the side so you can't go 1 for 1 in the cables. I skipped the cable area and am planning to tack those by hand because I didn't want to risk distorting the cables.
• When you start the pocket it says to join new yarn (but do not break current yarn) and knit the pocket with the newly joined yarn. I chose to work the pocket in the original working yarn and wait to join the new yarn until i returned back to knitting the body. I did this because I didn't want to deal with 2 balls of yarn thru each row of the pocket. Also, when knitting the body I weaved the end in and it is hidden behind the pocket.

Cabled & Ribbed sweater

I got another few inches done on the front and am right at the armholes now. I have another 8 or so inches to get the front done. The rest of this should go much faster because I don't have to deal with the cable rows in the middle third of the back or the sleeves!

What do you think?

OK, I have a few upcoming projects that I need your help on:

Baby sweaters for spring: I have 2 friends who are expecting in April. I don't have kids and I'm not sure what to make for them. I was thinking about a cotton acrylic blend so it would be lighter weight and washable. But I'm so programmed to dislike acrylic. What do you all think? I don't want to give the gift that never gets used because cleaning it is a chore.

Rowan Calmer: Amber and I are trading some yarn and I was thinking about getting some Calmer. I love this yarn but I haven't been thinking much about warm weather knitting. Go figure - it's 10 degrees out right now. I looked thru Rowan's Calmer book but nothing drew me in. Any ideas?