Reforming a Rogue
Does this happen only to me, or can I count the following phenomenon among the many unexplained mysteries of this universe: your phone is silent for hours on end. Then as soon as someone calls, two other people call within seconds, making you dance around call-waiting buttons. Similarly, you spend several days and weekends by yourself (blissfully knitting). Then comes one weekend when friends from all over the world you haven’t seen in ages decide to come into town and ask if you’re free to meet. None of them knows the others well, so it’s difficult to throw them all together for the evening. You want to meet all of them, cannot decide whom to ditch, and you agonise wildly about how to meet everyone and not go crazy. Next weekend is a case in point. Four friends from three countries all converging on the Bay area; plus a music concert that I made plans to go to with two others! I have no idea how I’m going to manage it all, but am determined to, somehow.
Anyway.
I knit the popular Rogue pattern last summer, but was really unhappy with the way it turned out: too short overall. I had another skein and a half left of the yarn, so I decided to lengthen it. I undid the two inches of the hem and with a deep breath, cut it at one of the corners:
I then frogged the hem up to the beginning of the cable pattern, picked up stitches all around, and knit a couple more inches down in stockinette (you can tell where the yarn is joined, no? Hopefully a wash will take care of that). I also added a small detail to the cable (if you’re familiar with the pattern you can already tell where I’d modified it earlier as well):
Also, I hadn’t liked the hemmed border earlier; it made the sweater too heavy at the bottom, so instead this time I added an I-cord edging. It makes it lighter and more manageable, somehow.
I am working on the sleeves, but have hit a snag. I need DPNs to do them in the round, and although I have two pairs each of size 4, 6, and 7, I don’t have what I need: size 5s. Typical. I tried with two circulars, but cannot bear them flapping about as I try to figure out which of the four ends to use at any given time. I was hoping to have the fully reformed Rogue on display, but looks like that won’t happen for a while, because in the next two weeks I have no time to go to a yarn store. But I’m delighted that I was able to repair it to the length I wanted!
