Posted: March 9th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: projects: treeline striped cardigan (ravelympics), sweaters, tanis fiber arts green label, things i knit, yarn i use | Tags: handknit, knitting, oops | 4 Comments »
I learned an important lesson this weekend.
Basically, I blocked my sweater. I did not do anything fancy to it – it didn’t get stretched, or pinned, or anything like that. I just got it wet with a little bit of soap, squeezed out the water, and laid it flat to dry. I do not know what happened between the actual sweater and my dirty liar of a gauge swatch, but something did, and the sweater is perfect – except that I have to roll the sleeves up about four times and the neckline slips off my shoulders and the collar starts about three inches too low. It is beyond “sexy-slouchy” and into “elementary-school-aged-girl-playing-dress-up,” and I am very disappointed.
I don’t know. I mean, I am assuming the gauge difference is what did it, because there is one – but the swatch is 4.75 stitches/6.5 rows to the inch, and the sweater is 4.5 stitches/7 rows. Everything fits in terms of stitch gauge, but it’s way too long. If anyone on the internet has insight into what might have gone wrong, I’d appreciate it. Part of my issue is that I really have no idea what happened.
It is going to take me a few days before I work up the nerve to frog this sweater and start over, but I think I’m going to have to. I love this yarn, and there is no point in keeping it knit up in a sweater I’ll never wear outside the house.
Posted: March 5th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: dream in color, projects: sparkle socks, socks, things i knit, yarn i use | Tags: dream in color, dream in color starry, handknit, knitting, sock knitting, socks | 1 Comment »
The sweater is very, very nearly done – all I have left is to sew on the snaps. I am impatient like a little kid, right now, waiting for it to dry so I can put it on and wear it and just bask in how much I love the project.
In the meantime, though, I’ve been slowly chipping away at other projects that most of you have probably forgotten about. For instance, my socks. My glittery Dream in Colour socks. These? Yeah. They’re not done, but I have finished one sock and I’m well on my way to being done the second.
These socks are especially exciting because of this detail, right here. You see the gusset? See the bit where the gusset joins the top of the foot? See how there isn’t a hole there? I have finally, after four years of knitting socks, figured out how to do that. I even repeated it on the second sock, so I am hopeful that it was not some sort of fluke.
Also, I am still entranced by the fact that this yarn has glitter. In case any of you were concerned.
Song of the Entry: Matthew Barber – (I’m Gonna) Settle My Accounts With You (Watch)
Posted: March 2nd, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: projects: treeline striped cardigan (ravelympics), sweaters, tanis fiber arts green label, things i knit, yarn i use | Tags: cardigan, handknit, knitting, knitting olympics, ravelympics, stripes, sweater, tanis fiber arts, treeline striped cardigan | 2 Comments »
So, this was what my sweater looked like at 2:30 PM on Sunday, before I left to watch the men’s gold medal hockey game.
And this is what my sweater looks like this morning, after casting off last night.
I had two rows of button band to go by the time the Olympics were officially “over,” and that’s fine with me. I’m not going to grouse over the fact that I didn’t have yarn until two days in, or explain that I’m like, really busy – I knit very nearly all of a sweater in two weeks, and that’s good enough.
The sweater isn’t done done – I still need to figure out how I’m going to close it (if anyone knows where I can buy snap tape in Toronto, you get to be my BFF forever), weave in all the ends, and do blocking, but whatever. It is close enough to finished, and I am in love with this sweater and can’t wait to wear it, and that’s what matters.
