Lessons in Humility: Gauge Edition

Just about a year ago, I started a stranded sweater for my husband (Streymoy from Knitty Winter 2013). I even posted photos of the swatches and the buttons on this here blog and promptly never wrote about it again. I was pretty excited about the project, as I already had the yarn in my stash and my husband liked the look of it. We decided between us that we'd prefer it as a pullover, rather than a cardigan, and I got started swatching.

My first swatch with the recommended needle size got me 15 stitches per 4 inches. Since the pattern gauge was meant to be 20 sts/4", I needed to go down at least a needle size. The next swatch got me 18 sts/4", which was closer to gauge, but not quite there. And here's where I got myself into trouble: I was really anxious to get started knitting, so I did some math and calculated that I could use the directions for the men's large size and have it fit with 2" or so of ease. My math was wrong. Terribly, comically wrong. Like 4" too big around the chest wrong. It was so frustrating! Even worse, it had taken me a solid two months to knit it wrong, and I was disgusted with it. I unraveled my work and set the yarn aside to taunt me at different times throughout the year.

I picked it up again this fall, determined to make a sweater that fit. I took a hard look at the swatches and the sleeves that I hadn't unraveled. I also took another look at the math and determined that my calculations had been off by .25 stitches per inch, which was just the difference between a sweater that would fit my husband and a sweater that would fit Rubeus Hagrid. Anyway, with this reevaluation of my mathing, I decided that following the directions for the men's medium size would end in a sweater that my husband could wear in public, not just in our frigid basement.

The two months of futile knitting last fall seems to have made this fall's knitting go really fast. The stranded charts were easy to memorize, and it felt like it took me no time at all to knit the body portion of the sweater. Once it was long enough, I had my husband try it on. It fit! I was so happy! I was less happy, though, at the prospect of having to re-knit the sleeves. As they were knit to stitch counts of the large size, I didn't want to try to calculate the adjustments necessary to make them work with the new body. It only took about a week to re-do the sleeves and join them to the body.

Now that I had one big garment on the needles, I marked off the steek stitches for the collar and began the raglan shoulder decreases. The designer did a fantastic job here by planning the decreases in such a way that it ended up a little more like a saddle shoulder than a true raglan, which I think made for a better-fitting neckline than most. Once I completed the shoulders and neck, it was time to prepare the steek stitches for cutting.

I'm not gonna lie: just the thought of cutting my knitting makes me want to pee my pants. What if I cut too far? What if I cut in the wrong place? What if the reinforcements don't hold? What if??? I was really sweating it. In the end, I followed Kate Davies' steeking instructions: I did the crochet reinforcements and cut that sweater right down the middle. I even stopped in the right place. The only thing I think I'll do differently if I ever do another short steek is that I'll bind off the stitches meant to be at the base of the collar, which I think will add a little strength. It's a small thing, I think, but one that could help the sweater's durability.

With the steek cut, I picked up stitches for the shawl collar. I made it a 1x1 rib to match the cuffs and bottom ribbing. I had originally followed Jared Flood's collar instructions from the Brownstone pullover, but it ended up with too much fabric at the back of the neck, so I undid it and reduced the number of short rows by half. This made the collar fit my husband much better. I finished it with an i-cord bind off, incorporating the buttonholes as I bound off. As soon as I added the buttons, I made my husband try it on. It fit! We were both pretty happy about it. As I hadn't washed and blocked it when I took the photos, you're seeing it fit more snugly than it does since it was washed. As it was a lot of sweater (bulky-weight yarn, stranded), I filled the tub of my washing machine with water & wool wash and let it soak. I briefly considered blotting it dry by hand, but changed my mind when I lifted it out of the washer and found it was really, really heavy wet. I decided the better plan would be to use the spin cycle (skipping the agitation) to remove most of the water from the sweater. Then I laid it out on the guest bed, getting it to its proper shape and size and let it dry for a few days.

Since I finished it, my husband has gotten to wear it a couple times and has told me how much he loves it, which makes me pretty happy. He's so knitworthy! There's yarn leftover from this project and I'm trying to decide if I want to make something for myself from it. I've found a couple patterns I like, but I haven't made up my mind yet. That decision may need a little time to percolate.

So, Friends, that's it for tonight. Until next time.

Well, THERE'S your problem.

I am currently knitting a sock that isn't foot-shaped. It's so not-foot-shaped, it practically has two heels. That curve toward each other. The blue arrow above? It's pointing to a part that's supposed to curve that way. The red arrow? Yeah, it's supposed to curve the other way.

It's my own mistake. I'm sure it has something to do with overconfidence and/or skimming through the pattern. Actually, it has everything to do with overconfidence and skimming through the pattern. You'd think I'd know to carefully read the instructions by now, especially with this project and its unusual construction. But, no, I just wanted to get going again on these socks and so I have to pay for my folly.

While I was knitting this incorrect bit, it was impossible to tell that it was going to be wrong, as the way the stitches were mounted on the needles, it looked like it would be just fine. Once I finished that triangle and got it off the needles, the truth of my situation was clear. It was wrong.

See, in this picture, with my foot in the sock, there's some egregious bunching in that place where the front of my leg meets the top of my foot. Socks will do that a little bit, even when they're done right, but what's going on here is way beyond the ordinary. I'm going to have to undo it, then redo it, and I'll have to wait until I've gotten a little sleep so that I don't make a bad situation worse. I guess it's good that I like knitting.

Anyway, that's all I've got for tonight. Earlier in the day I was thinking how I wanted to post, but that I didn't have anything to write about. Funny how these things work out. I hope to have better news next time, Friends.

Knitting keeps me humble.

Seriously. Every time I get even a little bit cocky about my ability to do something knitting-related, knitting puts me right back in my place. Case in point: effing cables.

I've made plenty of things with cables: socks, gloves, hats, sweaters. Lots. Of. Stuff. Then I started on the back of the Rafters cardigan.

It's kind of hard to tell, but the braids on the left have a mistake.

See this picture? Take a good look at the cables on the left side. Notice they're a little different than the ones on the right side? Yeah. I messed them up. I seem to have repeated a row without noticing for like three rows.

Here's a closer look at my lesson in humility.

I didn't want to unknit the cables I'd gotten right, so I decided that I'd just undo the 6 stitches down 'til I got to the mistake and fix each cable individually. It worked pretty well, I think. It only took me 30 minutes or so to fix, which wasn't so bad. I just had to apply myself.

Left braid fixed, center & right braids up next.

Once I got the cables uncrossed I was able to fly right along on the back of the sweater. I'm about to start the increases for the underarms and then I think I'll get to start the fronts of the sweater pretty soon thereafter. It's really starting to cool off here, so another lovely, soft wool sweater will be great to put into rotation.

That's all the yarn, & the heels aren't even turned.

Another lesson in humility was this pair of simple vanilla socks that I'm making for a friend. Who happens to wear size 15 shoes. When I looked at the yarn in the ball, I thought I had plenty. If I'd looked at the project page for my husband's aran-weight socks, I'd have seen that I used two balls of this yarn to make his, and he only wears a size 11.5. So I've contacted my friend to see if he'd rather have the thick socks, for which I'll need to order more yarn; or thinner socks, the yarn for which I already have in a quantity to make a pair. I guess I can start winding the yarn for the thinner socks. I have a long work-related meeting tomorrow, so I'll need something to work on that won't require too much attention for a little while.

Well, that's all I have for now. Until next time, Friends.

These socks are fugged up.

So I'm starting over.

I had gotten the heel turned this afternoon, and when my husband got home from work he tried them on.

They were awful! The fit was poor, and I have no one to blame but myself. I noticed that the row gauge on the soles was different than the tops of the feet, but I soldiered on. I made a mistake on the gussets, but I kept going. The heel flaps were actually alright, they just didn't work. I cut my losses. I ripped them out.

The only positive about this project is that I love the colors of this yarn, so I'm just going to try a new pattern. I've cast on for the Java socks, which I hope will come out right and look good in this yarn. We'll have to cross our fingers. My husband would have worn the fugly socks, but he deserves the best socks. Ones that fit. And look good. And ones that I won't be embarrassed to admit that I made.

I hope to have better news the next time I post. Until then, Friends.

Home stretch? Not so much.

So, this week I thought I'd made some progress on the Rick socks, turning the heels and completing the gusset decreases. I'm not sure why I blew off the top-of-foot charts, though, but I did. What I got was a twisted foot to each of the socks that had no chance of being wearable. Of course, I couldn't really tell until I got the gussets decreased and had both tops on one needle and the soles on the other. Once I could see how twisted the socks were, I started ripping. A whole week's worth of knitting. So frustrating! I guess I'll just have to consider it another lesson in humility. Read the chart. Follow the chart. Trust the chart.

In better news, I've gotten a little farther along with the columbines needlepoint that I set aside for the Christmas knitting. I'm very pleased with how the background color is looking against the flowers. I'm so glad I chose a color with enough contrast. Now it's just slow and steady to get it done. With the 18 mesh canvas I'm working on here, that's 324 stitches per square inch. It's a lot of stitches!

Well, that's all for today, Friends. Let's hope for a little success.

The cute just keeps coming.

So I finished the Jasper Diamond Hoodie this weekend, and I think it's adorable. The hood makes all the difference! I can't wait to take it to knit night to try it on my friends' kids. The two who have been coming are almost too big to be able to wear it, so this is probably my only chance to see it on an actual baby. I'm not sure who I'm going to give this to - I might even enter it in the State Fair. I haven't decided yet.

Since that project is finished, I decided to start Lilleput, which is the project I was all excited about last week. I cast on in the car on the way to a family reunion, which was far enough away that I made good progress on it. After having a great time with my husband's large extended family, camping out in the state park, and visiting an old friend in town, we hit the road the next day and I continued knitting on the cardigan. By the time we got home, I decided that I didn't like the way the colors were working out, so this morning I ripped it all out and started over.

I also took a look at other people's Ravelry project pages, to see why I wasn't liking how mine was knitting up. Turns out I had misread the directions and was making the stripes too wide. I also didn't like the contrast between the red and the white. When I started over, I used the red as the accent color and used the variegated yarn with the white for what I hope will be a more pleasing finished cardigan. It definitely looks better with the narrower stripes. I don't think it will go anything like as fast as the hoodie, but slow and steady will do just fine for now.

I can never do things the easy way.

Take these socks for example. They're supposed to be CookieA's Milo, knit from Punta Yarns Merisock Handpainted. They're supposed to have a 78-stitch leg, mostly ribbed, with a cabled "X&O" going down the back of the leg.

54 does not equal 39.

What I've got is a 108-stitch leg, with 6 cabled "X&O" sections going all around. It might have something to do with my tendency to make things harder than they need to be. I'm pretty sure the chart was clear - I just assumed that there was a mistake and I was supposed to repeat the whole thing, not just the last four stitches. Had I paid the least bit of attention, I could have done the math and realized that 72+6=78 and that 72+36=108. Not only did I increase too many times, I also made myself do 10 more cable crossings than what was required. And I didn't have a cable needle when I did it, so I had to improvise. I made a simple sock cuff much more labor-intensive than it needed to be.

This one has the right number of stitches. And ribbing.

And the worst of it is that I have already knit this pattern once, so you'd think I would remember what I did last time. Nope. It's just so sad! There's not much point in having a great pattern if you're not going to follow the damned thing. I'm almost ready to rip them out and start over, and I'll probably do it tonight while I watch Downton Abbey. I think it's all I'm good for while that show is on. The last time I tried to knit during the show, I ended up with uneven toe decreases and socks an inch too short for my husband to wear.

So next time I hope I have better things to say about these socks. Until then, Friends.