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WendyB
Permanent Resident
3262 Posts |
 Posted - 08/08/2006 : 1:12:04 PM
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I'm done with my small size Lotus Blossom Tank from IK except for the finishing. I showed the lady at the yarn shop how much yarn I have left, and she doesn't think I have enough to pick up and knit an edging around the armholes and finish the neckline. Darn. I did do three instead of four repeats of the lace pattern at the bottom, but I didn't think that would matter. She suggested I do a crochet edging instead. Why would they say two skeins in the pattern if two skeins won't do it? My gauge is correct, by the way.
P.S. I'm using the suggested SWTC bamboo, and I have the same suggested length, just did more stockinette. |
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kbshee
Permanent Resident
USA
4129 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2006 : 1:42:27 PM
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What color are you using? I bet someone here might ahve some left over to share...I know I do (it's a variegated blue and green, by the way).
kim in oregon
http://kbshee.blogspot.com |
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WendyB
Permanent Resident
3262 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2006 : 3:47:18 PM
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Thanks, Kim. I didn't think of that. I'm using Lilac, Dye Lot 050223. I'm going to try finishing it with the little bit I've got left.
It would be nice to know if someone has a little left over that they can spare. I would happily pay the postage from somewhere in the U.S. But first I'm going to try. I'm crossing my fingers. |
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WendyB
Permanent Resident
3262 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2006 : 8:37:41 PM
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Well, I finished the thing with a couple of yards to spare, so I don't need any more yarn. I'm getting ready to block it. I didn't like the floppy front, and I even got to pull it together a bit with more yarn. I was really lucky. Next time I will make a normal (not loose) bindoff in front.
I tell you, it was touch and go. I don't know if anyone else had that problem with the recommended yarn and yardage. I intentionally tried not to make it too long, because it seemed from the middle of the piece that I might not have enough.
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cpknits
Chatty Knitter
USA
297 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2006 : 5:22:16 PM
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| I always have to buy extra yarn for everything I make. My row height is shorter and therefore I always use more yarn than what the pattern calls for. I learned this the hard way. I had to come up with a combination of two yarns to finish sleeves on a cardigan a few years ago. It looked like it was part of the design, I got lucky. |
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llinn
honorary angel
USA
1650 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2006 : 8:34:06 PM
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Man, every time I drop the keyboard, I lose the post I'm working on. Bummer.
Not only is everyone's gauge a little different, affecting the exqct yardage the design requires, but the actual yardage of different yarns varies by as much as 5-8% in normal manufacturing tolerance.
The extreme difficulty in producing a yarn exactly the same yardage per weight is why all yardages are listed as approximate.
Unless you love nail-biting tension in some of your knitting projects, buy at least 15% more yarn than the patterm calls for. And make VERU sure if you change yarn, that you have at least as much yardage.
Since so many like to buy these dreadfully expensive luxury yarns when an extra skein is a big investment--share balls of a color lot with another person.
Me, when I had my store, I just took returns on extras for up to one year. But the most expensive yarn I sold was pure silk or mohair at $10 per lb. I really wasn't worries about a dollar's worth coming back. Heck we used to collect returns of orphans for months and then make goodie bags up for 44.50 per lb. Crazy women ran out of the store with them.
Talk to your yarn store. Do they buy a lot of one dye lot or do they buy minimum one bag lots at a time. You might be able to rely on them having the same dye lot for a few weeks if they buy large amounts. If they buy little ones, you're probably dead in the water. The import stuff and fancy colorways are frequently done in very small lots.
Llinn |
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WendyB
Permanent Resident
3262 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2006 : 8:48:27 PM
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I was actually able to finish it, Llinn, but I was questioning if I'd have enough for a long time. I even considered finishing the arm holes with a different color or a blend of similar colors, but I like the solidity of it. I usually do buy an extra skein, but I didn't this time, because I normally have a lot extra.
I ordered the yarn online, and I may have not been able to get the same dye lot. Fortunately, it all worked out! |
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abt1950
Permanent Resident
3019 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2006 : 10:04:10 PM
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Wendy, I'm glad you had enough. It's not a pleasant feeling knitting along wondering if youll have enough to finish.
I've run short on yarn several times, even after buying an extra skein.
Once, the LYS owner couldn't find any more so I made the sweater several inches shorter. The alterations didn't help an already sorry situation. No more purple-pinkish eyelash yarn for me. Some sweaters are just not meant to be. (Many sweaters of that era fell into that category, but hey--it was the 80s).
Another time, I went to a different yarn shop from where I had originally bought the yarn. The owner was kind enough to order a full bag just so I could get the one skein I needed. She got a lot of busines from me after that.
The third time I realized that I was going to run out of yarn mid-second sleeve. I couldn't find any additional yarn & toyed with the idea of turning the sweater into a vest. It got put away. That was seven or eight years ago & the yarn was long ago discontinued. Last year I found an entire bag of the stuff on ebay & snatched it up. Turned out to be the same dye lot! The sweater is now back in my WIP basket, waiting in line to be finished--it's got a cabled V neck collar somewhat similar to what's being shown in the new issue of Vogue Knitting, so now is the time to strike!
Anne
Knit long and prosper |
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llinn
honorary angel
USA
1650 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2006 : 10:58:37 PM
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Glad it worked out. I do not like tension and worry on a knitting project or on anything I'm sewing either. I tend to buy what would amount to 2 or 3 bags of a yarn in particular color so that I can do whatever I want with it. I don't like getting less than 3 lbs of yarn or 5 yards of 60" fabric. My problem is I never know when a wild hair is going to take over and turn a sweater into an entire outfit or cargo pants are going to require 26 pockets with flaps--and the horde are large. Eldest son is 6'4" and 240, middle son is 6'2" and ticked off he's the shortest now and the baby from he!! is 6'5" but pretty lean, about 190. It takes 2 1/2 yards to make a pair of pants for those stinkers. And you don't want to know about boxers. I had to redesign the crotch on boxers so they didn't bite the boys. Now I have to sew all their underwear.
But the only knitting they'll accept are bucket hats, gloves and scarves and ski masks in plain colors-no patterns. Remember the threat of IE.
Llinn |
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abt1950
Permanent Resident
3019 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2006 : 08:58:54 AM
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Lin, the threat of IE is real.
DS is going away to college in Canada. I told him he was getting a blue brioche rib scarf that he'd seen me knit in Simply Soft. He made the mistake of admiring the color. When I told him, he grimaced--Real Men Don't Wear Scarves.
Little does he know that one day when it's getting cold he will get a package in the mail containg fingerless gloves with a flip-over mitten top in the dullest blue color of Lopi I could find. Think I'll wait until it's good and cold in Toronto.
Anne
Knit long and prosper |
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llinn
honorary angel
USA
1650 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2006 : 12:16:10 PM
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Tie a small pink bow where the middle finger would be so that when he flips the top as he tried them on he'll find the bow in the appropriate spot.
He'll never suspect his mother of behavior that evil.
Revenge for years of wardrobe abuse is sweet.
I'm the only mother I know who got a note from her son's first grade teacher asking if he was depressed as he wore a lot of black. The little stinker picked out half a dozen outfits in green and blue and purple-his old favorite and then had some kind of epiphany and has refused to wear color for the last 17 years. I figure that's when the testosterone levels actually reached his brain and cut off any neural activity.
Llinn |
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abt1950
Permanent Resident
3019 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2006 : 3:56:28 PM
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Lin, LOL, revenge would indeed be sweet.
My kid was the one who hated everything in the store when we went clothes shopping. If I bought anything that he had grudgingly displayed some kind of positive reaction towards, he would never wear it. One time A Very Helpful Saleslady took him in hand and got him to pick out a whole season's wardrobe. She looks at me as if I'm a poor benighted mother who needs to learn how to handle my son better. Did he wear any of those clothes? Nahhhh.
He went through a 2 year phase in kindergarten/1st grade where all he would wear (and I do mean all) were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T shirts.
Anne
Knit long and prosper |
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