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Sunday, August 10, 2008
knittery help, please?
(To non-knitters, this post will be in a foreign language. Paraphased into English, it reads, "Rachel is in over her head again and has no clue what she's doing. As if that were anything new?" There, now you don't need to try to struggle through it.)
I bought some pretty heathery purple yarn to make a sweater for C. I am pretty much designing this sweater myself (which could be disastrous, but everyone has to try it once and I can always frog it and make something else, right?), and I would like to incorporate this celtic braid (just one repeat of it) down the middle. HOWEVER, I can't make it simple on myself; I want the rest of the sweater to be in stockinette stitch rather than in reverse stockinette. Any ideas as to how I can make this look nice? I'm about six rows in, and what I've done so far is to do reverse stockinette for two stitches on either side of the cable (moving the two stitches so that they stay right close to the cable, if you know what I mean), and it does allow the braid to show nicely, but it also looks a little jaggy. I'm thinking about a few different solutions:
1) add a simpler cable pattern in straight rows down either side of the complicated braid, and do a reverse stockinette background just between the outside cables.
2) increase the number of stitches of reverse stockinette on either side of the braid without adding more cables.
3) leave it as it is for another half-dozen rows or so and see how it looks before I decide.
The thing is, I don't want a curling/bulging edge between the reverse stockinette and the stockinette, and I know from experience that this can happen.
So. Any ideas? please pretty please? Thank you.
Comments
Hmm. I think either one or two would work, or maybe a combination. How strongly do you feel about only having one cable? Another option would be to do a few reverse stockinette and then a few seed stitch on each side. The seed stitch might make it sort of blend and look less jaggy.
Posted by: Kat with a K at August 10, 2008 06:52 PM
can you add a pic for us to see? have you tried seeing if there is a video like that on youtube?
Posted by: debi at August 10, 2008 08:13 PM
I'd go with option 2. Another possibility would be to add an extra edging stitch, e.g. p1 k1 p6 (cable) p6 k1 p1.
Failing this, I believe I would *not* move the two sts to stay close to the cable. I'd have at least 2sts reverse stockinette, then anywhere from none to a few more on each row depending what the cable's doing, so that the bordering column is always straight down. Does that make sense?
Posted by: Paula at August 10, 2008 10:59 PM
Ladies, thank you so much for taking the time to comment. You all are awesome. *Y'all* are awesome, even.
Paula, yes, what you say makes complete sense. I am afraid of the dreaded Curling Stockinette, though, since a scarf I started (16" worth of "started", now in hibernation while I work up the nerve to frog it AGAIN) with this same braid and that same idea -- straight lines of garter stitch down each edge -- has a very bad case of irremediable flippiness. I had read a tip somewhere for a similar problem that suggested making the line between garter (or whatever) and stockinette wavy or otherwise uneven -- which suggestion seemed tailor-made for an edging for a braid of varying widths. But it didn't look right. I frogged it.
What I'm doing now is trying a swatch wherein I use a cable or twist between the stockinette and the reverse stockinette, at the points where the width of the braid changes. It's hard to explain (especially at 12:25 AM) but so far it looks much smoother than the first attempt. At least if it doesn't work I'll only have a 36-stitch swatch to rip out, instead of a 76-stitch (ha! had originally typed 76-INCH. C is a solid kid but she's not THAT big!) piece of sweater. :)
Posted by: Rachel at August 11, 2008 12:28 AM
The thing about a scarf is that if it curls there's nothing to pull it straight. In a sweater edge, there's the person inside.
Posted by: Paula at August 11, 2008 10:22 PM
I SO have no talent for knitting so I know nothing of which you speak, but Hi, my friend! Your carmel brownie recipe sounds absolutely lovely. I think I'm going to make it with Bella this weekend and of course, only eat one. Ahem Or two. Small TWO though. Promise! Mwah!
Posted by: Carrie at August 12, 2008 01:26 PM
