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.
Hey there!!
Congratulations on fitting into those tighter jeans. You are really working hard on taking care of yourself. I must say that even if you didn’t lose another pound you would still be beautiful!. You were a good role model for me last nite at Perkfection. The yogurt marble pound cake was calling me by my first name. I resisted and felt good about that. I was actually thinking that knitting with everyone keeps me from thinking about eating.
Thank you so much for teaching us the Russian Join. I just made a copy of it for my knitting notebook. I save patterns, instructions, etc. I do it the old fashioned way in a 3 ring binder lol!!! Having just started to knit in September I feel like I have to learn as much as possible. With you in the knitting community I know I will continue to learn….So thanks again and keep on writing. I love checking in to see what’s going on.
Louise :-))
Rogue is looking great. I really love the color!
What a great idea for a motivator! Congrats on your loss and a toast to your future love. And the Rogue is looking good!