FO: Greytone Rosie (Rambling Rose)
details:on ravelry
pattern: Rambling Rose
yarn: Filati Italian Collection Tebe Extrafine Merino from Elann in Knoxville Grey
Modifications I made:
- The yarn choice. Since this pattern is only written in two sizes (30" and 43" bust) and I'm neither of those, I decided to knit the larger sweater in a slightly smaller gauge. This meant that I had a smaller row and stitch gauge. Accordingly I did not use the pattern for the number of rows in the sleeves or body. The fabric that was created with squish and quite comfortable, with little scratch to it. After two months of constant wear, this sweater is already showing signs of piling where my handbag rubs my right lovehandle. Maybe all yarns would do this, but I find it frustrating that its happening so soon.
- Lengthening of torso and arms. Because I'm tall, I need to lengthen torsos and sleeves. Below the armhole the length of the sleeves are 22" and torso is 19".
- Altered length of button band. Because I lengthened the sweater, I had to use a different number of stitches along my buttonband. I used the same ratio of stitches to rows as the pattern indicated. I believe in the pattern the prescribed picked up stitches to rows was 56% (ie: if you garment has 100 rows knit, then you should pick up 56 stitches along the button band). Because I am not a super precise knitting (obsessed with staying true to the pattern), I may have picked up a few more extra stitches in the buttonband to ensure I had enough stitches to end with two knits stitches. The buttonband is a k2 p2 rib, where the k2 stitches are twisted, creating more texture.
- Added waist shaping. I am a curvy lady. Between the cast-on edge and my waist I decreased by 5 sts, which I later increased to compensate for my bust. Looking at the sweater from the rear, when buttoned I think its very possible my waist shaping leaves a little to be desired. Either I should have added it higher (above the hip) or make the whole sweater a bit bigger because I believe those folds are a symptom of the sweater being too tight.
- Check the circumference of your upper arm and confirm that there are in fact enough stitches around the arm for your arm. Luckily knits stretch and we can conform their shape with blocking. But that said, I would add more stitches to the width of the sleeve. I think the tight sleeves emphasize the next problem...
- The yoke short-row shaping is clever, but produces funky results. Look at this rear shot of the sweater buttoned to see how much extra fabric there is behind my shoulders. If the sleeves were loose, you may not notice this. When I first became aware of this issue I looked at all of the examples of this sweater on Ravelry. It seems that alot of them have this problem. Rather than a traditional raglan style decrease, or Ann Budd seamless yoke construction, the yoke decreases were done with a series of short rows. This produced a neckline lower in the front than the back (which is good), but as the pattern was written it also produced very deep armholes (which is bad). Since most right-side rows in the short row section had p3tog, it would be difficult to decrease the number of short rows in order to produce a shallower armhole. Someone who was willing to put the time and effort into this project probably can come up with a good fix.
Conclusion: I love this sweater. The scalloped edges rock. I don't think I would have every combined scalloped edges and a lace pattern all in one sweater, but it works out rather nicely. You should all go knit one now too!
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It is gorgeous. I've wanted to make it, but I was looking for the right pinks to replace the Kersti. I hope I'll be able to see it in person one of these days (maybe we can entice you into UCI Knitting one of these Thursdays).
Lori, Greytone Rosie is beautiful! I love it and wish I had one just like it. :) I think the wrinkling in the back might also be part of the shaping problem... that is, our bust takes up more vertical space than our backs do, so there is often a little too much fabric in the back. At least, that's one of my own personal shaping problems. To be honest, though, it looks great from all angles and I would be wearing it every single day. I love the contrasting buttons, too. Yay!
Yay- it turned out so great! And the yellow buttons are a fantabulous touch- love 'em!
Yay! It looks great.. now only if I could get the buttons on my puff sleeve cardi that has been lingering for MONTHS!
Wow, it looks *great* in one color, and the grey is a nice counterpoint to all the lacy insertions and edging. Nice, Lori!
I noticed you also upgraded to MT4 (yay) and that you're still going to be blogging! How do you like MT4 so far?
I really like your version of the sweater--I especially like the finer gauge. Despite the things you don't like about it I think it looks great on you.
Beautiful! I didn't particular care for it in the double pinks, but your monochromatic version rocks! It really brings out the lovely scallops.
heck, i love it too. Issues or not, I think you still rock it. I thought the cardi itself looked too busy with its patterning and bi-color design, but yours came out more subdued and a lot more wearable.
what? only two sizes? and the sizes they chose are 30" and 43"??? that is bizarre to me. i think the sweater looks great, even with the so-called "flaws." also, i think it looks awesome in all one color, much better than the original!
I love it, too! It really looks good -- I don't find the yoke terribly baggy behind the shoulders in your photo. But maybe I was distracted by your fab new hairdo...
Well, I think it came out really cute. I think that many seamless raglans are actually knit with an incorrect ratio of bust to sleeve stitches. The book Sweater Design in Plain English covers this problem. It may be more pronounced with this unique shaping technique but it's not uncommon. It's one of the things I struggled with in Astoria.
Still, all issues aside, I think it's a great piece and you did a nice job of adapting it to suit you better.
It's beautiful on you! It's amazing to me how much nicer that pattern is in a single color ;)
Goodness girl, this is gorgeous. I love the buttons you picked.
It looks wonderful on you - bravo!
Absolutely beautiful! I love the color - you did a wonderful job :)
This is why it is so great to have others knit things that we have seen and discounted: one color and I love the rambling rose that I did not care for in the two color model.
Thanks for feeding the to do list!