Success!

[carynb]

After almost throwing the damn thing out Friday night, I got back to the grafting yesterday, and actually made it work.

How bad was Friday night? Well, I spent about an hour on Saturday at Lettuce Knit looking over wool and patterns, and actually bought the wool to make a make myself a Clapotis. I don't like just dropping things, but I could see me knitting up the sleeves on the Rogue and sewing them in and still having live stitches at the top of the hood that didn't get finished until 2 years from now. I thought taking a break now might be the better solution.

Fortunately for me (I guess), I didn't take the abbreviations list from Knitty.com out to M's with me. Well, and I took both projects with me. I sat down to start the Clapotis and had no idea what they meant by "kfb", so I couldn't actually start it. (As a side note: M's modem is currently very, very dead. It's brand new, to replace one that got blown in a thunderstorm a week ago, and I think he shorted it out as he was trying to place it. No internet all weekend! And so, I couldn't go out to the site and get the abbreviations list. Bother!).

So, I went back to the Rogue. I had fairly detailed instructions on which way to graft each stitch, thanks to PumpkinMama on the Rogue_Along newsgroup (on Yahoogroups), and I think I figured out what I was doing wrong last time - I was wrapping the wool around the needles extra times, knotting the wool. This made snugging up incredible difficult, and twisted some of the stitches so that they looked like purl stitches when then should have been knits. I had to undo 5 of my hard-won 16 stitches, but it only took me about an hour to complete it. (28 stitches in an hour isn't horribly bad, right?)

In the end, I think it turned out okay.

	Rogue Week 5 Hood Detail The top of the hood, complete with finished grafting. Can you see the seam? *g*
	Rogue Week 5 Collar Another shot of the hood, but including the entire collar this time.
	Rogue week 5 Complete A long shot of the whole sweater, showing the cable detail along one side, and the hood detail.

I still have to graft the stitches joining the hood up to the cable border, but that can be cast-off and sewn together if necessary. It may not look as smooth, but having it seamless is not as crucial as it is in the middle of the cable pattern. And besides that, I only have the nice, straightforward sleeves left to do. Almost there!

Comments

[mycrazyhair.livejournal.com]

Nice! I know how very hard this was. Congrats on perserverence and success!

[carynb.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I'm actually quite proud of the way I managed to get the grafting done, and it's kinda nice to have LJ to brag on about it. *g*

[corbet.livejournal.com]

Wow, that looks amazing!

[carynb.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm pretty pleased wiht the way it's going.

[zoarazul.livejournal.com]

As others have said ... gorgeous. :-)

On the Clapotis ... I've knit three already -- Christmas gifts, plus one for me -- and have another "in progress." "Kfb" was baffling for me, too, until I realized/guessed that it means "knit through front and back of stitch" which is a slightly more accurate but much less familiar way of saying "M1".

Did you go with the Lorna's L&L for the Clapotis? I did, to my tactile delight and financial dismay. Be warned that the pattern "shorts" you on the amount of yarn needed (this isn't just me -- I've read many pattern reviews that say the same thing). I ended up needing about three and 3/4 balls to finish the project, instead of the three that it called for ...

[zoarazul.livejournal.com]

... though you can, of course, modify the pattern to get it done in three (just do fewer than the six repeats it calls for during the increase rows). I couldn't begin to guess as how to best reduce/modify the width to stay within the yarn limits, but Megan (owner of LK) would probably be able to help figure it out.

[carynb.livejournal.com]

I did pick up the Lorna's L&L for knitting the Clapotis, yes. I have to thank you for this, actually - I saw you mention it a while ago, and followed the link to the pattern.

The L&L blend is absolutely the softest wool I've ever held. I can't wait to see how it knits up, & I really hope I don't need a fourth ball. It's just a little too pricey for that, y'know?

Megan did warn me that most people need 4 balls, but she said there were instructions on the knitty.com pattern on mods to do it in 3 balls. Unfortunately, I can't find the mods, so either they've modified the main pattern, or I'm gonna need a fourth ball. The thing is, I don't really want to make it smaller, though. I'd love to be able to use it as a shawl. I'd actually probably like to make it wider. At $40 a ball, though, I really don't want to be guessing how much I need.

Well, I'll start it soon, and see.

[zoarazul.livejournal.com]

I *think* the pattern mods are at the very end, under "Finishing." And it is soooo soft, isn't it. As I said to my sister -- also named Megan -- it's like knitting with butter. Only not so greasy. :-)

[crystal-diva.livejournal.com]

I just saw it...up close and personal. It looks amazing!!!

[carynb.livejournal.com]

Thanks!