Finished!

[carynb]

As I noted on Saturday, I managed to finish my Rogue, finally! I'd forgotten what a rush it was to finish off something I really like, and will wear. I'm not generally very creative or crafty, so managing to finish something like this just felt really, really good.

I also really liked the fact that I had to learn a lot in order to finish the pattern. Some things I'd never done before are:

• Some simple different stitching patterns like slip-slip-knit and knitting/purling through back loops. I learned to knit from my mother and my grandmother, and they were, apparently, pretty straightforward when it came to knitting. Changing the direction of the stitch decreases does make a difference in the look of the finished product, though.


• Another relatively simple trick I'd never done before: Making the increases and decreases one in from the edge, instead of the last stitch in the row. It makes for much smoother edging.


• Double cable increases and decreases - specific to Celtic knotwork-type cabling, these look pretty cool.


• Blocking. I'd never even heard of blocking before, and I was amazed at the difference it makes in the end product. Who thought that wetting and pinning down the wool before putting it all together would actually do anything? *g*


• The biggest of them all, though, had to be the grafting. I'm incredibly proud of how well the grafting of the cable pattern on the hood turned out, considering I'd never done any before.

	Finished Rogue, Hood Detail Closeup of the cabling on the hood, with a hint of the detail on the sleeve
	Finished Rogue, full length A full-length shot of the finished Rogue. It is just a titch too big, but I can live with that.*g*

Comments

[galadrielsfire.livejournal.com]

WOW Caryn! Fantastic! And yes, that pic is awesome. I wish I were talented in the knitting sweaters way.

[carynb.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

And believe it or not, all it takes to knit is a little manual dexterity and a lot of practice. Once your fingers know what to do, it becomes almost rote. This one kept throwing new stitch patterns at me, but there are a few absolutely wonderful sites on the internet that go through the different stitches in detail, with pictures and sometimes, video.

If you'd like to learn, I could certainly show you how to get started. It's easiest to start with some sort of rectangle - a scarf, a wrap, an afghan, a baby blanket - so you don't have to worry about seaming and grafting, and possibly not even increases and decreases, and then you pick up more stitches as you get more experienced.

[galadrielsfire.livejournal.com]

OOOOooooo! I would definitely love to take you up on that offer. And what do ya know? I'll be in town for a week over New Years! *g*

[halfabee.livejournal.com]

Yes, do a scarf first. Something you won't get attached to when you make your first mistakes. In my experience, the following are challenges to a first time knitter:

- casting on (why is the start so hard to get right?)
- keeping a uniform tension (practice, practice)
- knitting on four needles (socks & mittens, etc. However, knitting on an appropriate sized circular needle isn't difficult)
- taking back after you've made a mistake (or worse, dropped a stitch) and then fixing it
- figuring out the pattern shorthand & translating it into what you do with the yarn
- knitting with tiny and fancy yarns

Yes, I knit; although I haven't done anything other than make patterns for race29irl in a long while.

[galadrielsfire.livejournal.com]

WOW! That sounds like A LOT. EEk! I'm up for a good challenge though. And I could use a new winter scarf. *g*

Re:

[carynb.livejournal.com]

A scarf is defintely a good place to start. I'll have to look around and see if I can find an interesting pattern that's not very complicated - something that's good to learn on, with enough variation to keep you from getting bored. *g*

Re:

[halfabee.livejournal.com]

Really, the only items you will initially need to worry about are:

- casting on (why is the start so hard to get right?)
- keeping a uniform tension (practice, practice)
- taking back after you've made a mistake (or worse, dropped a stitch) and then fixing it

And that's why I recommend starting with a scarf (which you don't mind discarding) as practice. My first scarf had numerous errors (mysterious increases), but my second was much better.