Rambling Rose
Regular readers may recall that I started making Rambling Rose from Rowan Magazine 39 just over a year ago, but after doing the back and one front I cast on the second front then decided that the thought of six more inches of rib on 2.25mm needles was just too soul destroying to contemplate. So I put it in a box, and, um, left it there for nearly a year. Then a couple of weeks ago I decided to have a push to finish it, so I've spent two weeks knitting with four ply yarn on 2.25 and 3mm needles - it's very strange when 3mm needles feel big. But at long last it is finished! I was going to try some photos of me wearing it, but I feel and look like death warmed up, so you'll have to make do with it sitting on the table in the conservatory, that being where the light is best at this hour.
It's been a very fiddly knit - the main pieces were easy enough, even the one with the pattern, but then the button/buttonhole bands had to be knit separately (9 stitches of rib on 2.25mm needles for 150 rows = tedious in the extreme) and slip stitched on, the stitches round the neck had to be picked up for the collar, and finally six roses had to be made and sewn on. All of which seemed to go on forever. And then it had to be sewn up.
I was nervous about slip stitching the bands on, I wasn't exactly sure how to do it, but I laid the band next to the front and caught the edges together from the right side, and it seemed to work. The stitches are visible if you look closely, but because they're regular, it looks like a special stitch in the knitting. At least, I think it does....
I was also unsure about picking up the stitches round the neck for the collar - I've done it before, but in much more forgiving yarns. The cotton shows every stitch, but again it has worked out fine, thankfully. I did the decreases for the neckline in the last two stitches, but did slope them to match the curve of the neck, so I had a neat line of stitches to pick up. This may have been one of the problems with the disasterous Dandelion cardigan, I did the decreases a couple of stitches in on that, so the line pulls in slightly round the neck.
I did the decreases for the sleeve three stitches in, and I'm less happy with this - with the yarn being so fine, the decreases on the front and back come a long way up, and there is quite a long band four stitches wide on the join, which looks a little odd to me. It's not so bad when it's actually on, as this comes under the arm, but another time I may try sloping the decreases the other way, and making a feature of them that way. Again it pulls slightly, so that may help too.
I'm pleased with the shoulder seaming, I grafted the cast off stitches, and whilst there is a bit of a dip at the seam, it's as neat as I could hope for.
The rib from hell. Did I mention there's six inches of it? That's 66 rows, on needles so thin you could use them as skewers.
Thankfully the sleeves only had a couple of inches of rib. For once my row tension was pretty well spot on, so the sleeve cap is the right height, and they were a joy to sew in. Well, as much of a joy as any seam can be.
The roses were the final hurdle, for some reason the ones on the photo in the book were completely different to the ones the pattern produced, but I liked these better, so I didn't experiment. The pattern did the increases by 'increasing purlwise into the next stitch', which I took to mean purl front and back. This was one of the more fiddly manoevres I've tried, and after the first one I changed the increases to the knit stitches, with no noticable difference, apart from to my temper.
A close up. Because I have a new camera and I can.
And some more roses. Just because.
I used Rowan 4 ply cotton in shade 130. The pattern called for eight balls for the 40" size, I assume I bought eight, although it was a while ago, but I have a ball and a half left, which is getting to be a feature of Rowan patterns for me. For once the measurements are pretty much spot on, although I wish I'd made the body above the rib a little longer - the ribbon sits on my waist if I pull it down, but it tends to ride up, and if the buttons on the rib aren't fastened, as seems to be the idea, a little triangle of tummy pokes out, not altogether attractively....
I enjoyed knitting with the 4 ply cotton, much more so than with the Handknit DK - it slid off the needles beautifully (I used my old aluminium ones) and the stitch definition is lovely. It was a little uneven, but a quick press has sorted that out nicely.
It's been a very fiddly knit - the main pieces were easy enough, even the one with the pattern, but then the button/buttonhole bands had to be knit separately (9 stitches of rib on 2.25mm needles for 150 rows = tedious in the extreme) and slip stitched on, the stitches round the neck had to be picked up for the collar, and finally six roses had to be made and sewn on. All of which seemed to go on forever. And then it had to be sewn up.
I was nervous about slip stitching the bands on, I wasn't exactly sure how to do it, but I laid the band next to the front and caught the edges together from the right side, and it seemed to work. The stitches are visible if you look closely, but because they're regular, it looks like a special stitch in the knitting. At least, I think it does....
I was also unsure about picking up the stitches round the neck for the collar - I've done it before, but in much more forgiving yarns. The cotton shows every stitch, but again it has worked out fine, thankfully. I did the decreases for the neckline in the last two stitches, but did slope them to match the curve of the neck, so I had a neat line of stitches to pick up. This may have been one of the problems with the disasterous Dandelion cardigan, I did the decreases a couple of stitches in on that, so the line pulls in slightly round the neck.
I did the decreases for the sleeve three stitches in, and I'm less happy with this - with the yarn being so fine, the decreases on the front and back come a long way up, and there is quite a long band four stitches wide on the join, which looks a little odd to me. It's not so bad when it's actually on, as this comes under the arm, but another time I may try sloping the decreases the other way, and making a feature of them that way. Again it pulls slightly, so that may help too.
I'm pleased with the shoulder seaming, I grafted the cast off stitches, and whilst there is a bit of a dip at the seam, it's as neat as I could hope for.
The rib from hell. Did I mention there's six inches of it? That's 66 rows, on needles so thin you could use them as skewers.
Thankfully the sleeves only had a couple of inches of rib. For once my row tension was pretty well spot on, so the sleeve cap is the right height, and they were a joy to sew in. Well, as much of a joy as any seam can be.
The roses were the final hurdle, for some reason the ones on the photo in the book were completely different to the ones the pattern produced, but I liked these better, so I didn't experiment. The pattern did the increases by 'increasing purlwise into the next stitch', which I took to mean purl front and back. This was one of the more fiddly manoevres I've tried, and after the first one I changed the increases to the knit stitches, with no noticable difference, apart from to my temper.
A close up. Because I have a new camera and I can.
And some more roses. Just because.
I used Rowan 4 ply cotton in shade 130. The pattern called for eight balls for the 40" size, I assume I bought eight, although it was a while ago, but I have a ball and a half left, which is getting to be a feature of Rowan patterns for me. For once the measurements are pretty much spot on, although I wish I'd made the body above the rib a little longer - the ribbon sits on my waist if I pull it down, but it tends to ride up, and if the buttons on the rib aren't fastened, as seems to be the idea, a little triangle of tummy pokes out, not altogether attractively....
I enjoyed knitting with the 4 ply cotton, much more so than with the Handknit DK - it slid off the needles beautifully (I used my old aluminium ones) and the stitch definition is lovely. It was a little uneven, but a quick press has sorted that out nicely.