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Ceil
Permanent Resident
USA
1572 Posts |
 Posted - 11/10/2012 : 11:07:22 PM
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Ok, folks, the "new-gauge" sweater is done and almost dry (I guess I ought to call it that!), and I just now tried it on. Gosh, IT FITS!!!
Still have to sew the buttons on. I restored yarn scraps to fiber and spun/plied it real thin. It's drying as I write.
On top of this, I found a way to knit 5-row, vertical buttonholes without cutting the yarn, AND knitted a fold into the collar that looks amazingly good!
Happy day....
Ceil
(Ravelry: ceilr)
Time is never a factor when joy is involved. |
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robinstephanie
Seriously Hooked
USA
903 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2012 : 11:55:05 AM
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Sounds like a super success all the way around.
Robinsteph
Different is good. ~Matthew Hoover |
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Ceil
Permanent Resident
USA
1572 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2012 : 8:37:11 PM
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So here's the other piece about gauge: It's hard to find any mention of blocking a swatch. We don't see it on the yarn labels, and we don't see it (much) in articles. It's assumed. That's dangerous: when I blocked the swatch for the sweater vest that began this thread, the gauge reduced by a half stitch per inch. Multiply .5 times your bust line, and you can see how much bigger a sweater can become before you soak and block it.
I have two sweater notebooks. One is full (now to overflowing) of patterns I've already knitted. Many of them have swatches with them, and most I designed myself, with a few purchased patterns in between.
The other notebook is loaded with magazine and Internet articles, plus emails from friends and elsewhere that describe helpful knitting how-tos for future reference. I looked through this notebook today and found a Knitting Daily article written by Rita Buchanan about gauge. The photos suggest that the swatches they illustrate are blocked, but nowhere in the article is soaking and blocking mentioned. No wonder I missed the point, that we cannot go after gauge simply by knitting a swatch. It's the blocked swatch that tells us what the end result will be.
Well, I hope everyone who reads this gets the point and spares themselves a lot of headache! On my way home from the LYS today, I thought that it might be a good idea to knit more than one swatch, each for a different project, and then soak and block them at the same time. That might take some of the "sting" out of swatching. No, I don't want to swatch any more than anyone else, but it is necessary.
Happy swatching to all!
Ceil
(Ravelry: ceilr)
Time is never a factor when joy is involved. |
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Gauge
