uh.
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.
Did you wet block the swatch? You always want to treat the swatch the same way you intend to block or wash the sweater– that way you are measuring the *finished* gauge, which is not always the same as the in-progress one.
In the event that you DID wash the swatch, time to blame tension changes! Maybe you were so excited about the project during the swatching that it made you knit a little tighter? Or so hurried through the ‘lympics that you knitted fast and loose?
Oh no! I’m so sorry. The same thing happened to me in January. For me it was the tension – I changed the yarn the sweater called for and didn’t think about the stretch the stitch would give when blocked. It was tragic! I wanted that sweater so badly! But I ended up giving it to my mom and she loves it, so I guess that is ok. It still hurts, though!
Put on a sad movie and pull it out. You can do it. And make a sweater you love that actually fits. Your sweater is in my thoughts :)
I too have learned hard lessons about row gauge, which I never used to care about. Those are sad discoveries, my friend. :(
I find that superwash grows a lot more than you might think – ugh. Did you try throwing it in the dryer?