sweet pals o’ mine ….

Posted by ann

thank you so much for all your sage knitting advice. All agreed it was best to rip (and drink!), which is exactly what I did. After I posted my knitting SOS last night, I put the project aside and went to bed. I had enough sense at least to put some distance between me and the sweater. I figured I would have to rip it, but didn’t want to do anything rash.

I hoped to have pictures for you, but this day has been a tad crazy. Friends in crisis and one in the hospital! (our Flair had some tests done – thank goodness everything is okay) All is well that ends well and I am back to knitting the pattern stitch on the smaller needles. Once I get a few more rows done, I will measure my gauge to make sure I am on the right track. For now, it is off to spinning guild for me!

calling all you midnight knitters …..

Posted by ann

Pride goeth before the fall. also known as Gauge goeth before the RIP. at least it will if you agree with me ……

Here’s the dilemma …. Ann’s a knucklehead. A lazy, gauge-skirting knucklehead.

Here is how it has manifested this time.

I decide to start knitting the Stacy Pullover. I measure etc. and have sizing issues. Which I have resolved. (see previous post). I do check my gauge. I really do. At least the first part of my gauge. The part that says this is what you should get for this pattern stitch on the smaller needles. I do not check my gauge for the other pattern stitch on the larger needles. If I consider it at all, I figure how different can it be?

let’s pause for a moment and consider the madness of that question

The pattern on the larger needles wants me to get 8 rows per inch. I am getting 7. I have discovered this discrepancy upon reaching the portion for decreasing at the armhole. Left unresolved, this will lead to a full inch deeper armhole than the pattern or my size needs.

I was all set to just re-work the math in order to get the proper number of decreases over the specified inches. Where the pattern says to decrease 12 stitches over 12 rows, I would need to decrease 12 over 10. This seemed simple enough and I could just take notes and be sure to do the same on the back. Until Boar, who had been helping me with the math, said, “so will you also re-work the tops of the sleeves?”

gah! the sleeves

maybe I should just rip and have a do-over on smaller needles. The rip would involve 48 rows. And while I have gone so far as to take a class at Stitches given by June Hiatt where she showed us how to rework the pattern to fit our gauge rather than reworking our gauge to fit the pattern, I am beginning to think that in the face of all of this math, that 48 rows is a small sacrifice.

what do you think? Not only do I need your advice, I need it as soon as possible, so knitting can resume!

or how about this (possible stroke of genius or sign of severe sleep deprivation) …… I am right at the point of armhole decreases ….. what if I don’t rip and simply switch to the smaller needles right now? what would that do/look like?

Posted by ann

Here is a look at my next project. It is the Stacy Pullover from Big Girl Knits. This picture does not do a good job of capturing the honeycomb stitch. The yarn is Brooks Farm Four Play that I bought at Rhinebeck – last year! My first thought was to do a top down raglan, using the percentage system but also keeping in mind some of the design details mentioned in BGK book. Then I thought, why not just knit that sweater you really like from the book?

The first hurdle was trying to decide which size to knit …… the pattern states specifically – do not knit larger than your measurement. I did the dirty deed and took my measurements. They were one inch less than one size and two inches greater than the next size down. AGH! So I cast on for the smaller size and started knitting. I spent the entire time wondering if I will have yet another unwearable sweater. I remind myself that I hate feeling like a sausage in knitwear. Two inches is a lot of negative ease. After getting a considerable amount of knitting done, I RIP. I am not doing this again. I am not not going to wear this sweater. If it comes out too big, I will take it in during the seaming. I would rather do that than have it be too small and then try to compensate in the blocking.

It is another gray & rainy day here. Perfect knitting weather!

I forgot to mention how much fun I had on Saturday with The Bakerina. Ricki & Peggy joined in the cooking fun. The divinity is divine – but good God is it ever labor intensive! My Kitchen Aid was going overtime. Fortunately with a kitchen full of cooks, I got to sit there and watch them! Here is the view from my chair …..

that, my dear, is the beauty of my genius.