I bought 16 balls of assorted yarn colors. I found the white I wanted at another store and had to buy another 5 balls of that (because the store was only selling the yarn in packages). Okay... so maybe I'll have leftover yarn for something else.
NOT SO!
I followed a pattern for an large sweater... Tetsu is really extra large but I've made the same sweater from the same pattern before. I did take a gauge but I tend to look at a gauge and think'
"Oh good. That's not far off."
I don't use my gauge to think,
"Oh, that is two stitches too small so I'll need to compute and add more stitches." I'm very non-mathematical.
So I knitted up a good foot of the front of the sweater... And realized that I didn't have nearly enough yarn! Hmm. This is going to be a heavy sweater. And my knitting friend looked at what I'd done and suggested I reknit using a larger needle and check the gauge. I ripped out all the work I'd done and started again!
And took a gauge and thought
"Oh good. That's not far off either."
That makes sense... because I didn't decrease the number of stitches from the gauge... I am just knitting up the pattern with larger needles and anyone will tell you that that doesn't lessen the amount of yarn used, it will only make the sweater bigger. I figure these things out a little later than anyone else...
I've been thinking about ripping this all out again and using fewer stitches.
Or going out and buying more yarn and just making a big sweater.
Tetsu would probably be surprised to get a sweater too big for him as usually it is the other way around...
I think I'll go back to the yarn store.... I really don't want to do the math...
I don't like to do the math, either, so I get that. But oh, that's going to be a WONDERFUL sweater no matter what size it ends up! I LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteI'd buy more yarn too. I like it! Keep going!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving from the States.
I have the answer, quilt him a sweater!!! Love the choice of colours, you will get there in the end. Cheers from Jean.
ReplyDeleteOh, my, I'm sorry it's not working out for you right away. I really like the colors and arrangement in your sweater.
ReplyDeleteI've learned the hard way to do the swatch thing, too. I generally make a pretty big swatch to be sure I'm not fudging the numbers or just not able to count them right without enough finished fabric to work with. I'm making a sweater now for a very nice lady who wears a size 2. I had developed my original design for a larger size so am reworking it for the smaller size. After working up a gauge swatch with the yarn and needles I'll use for this project (never trust what you've used before unless using the EXACT same yarn and needles - different yarns marked the same can be very different when knitted), I did all the computations for the reworked pattern stitches. So far so good. I'm about half way up the back. Toes are crossed - can't cross fingers, they're busy knitting. ;)
What a pain! I'm not much of a knitter so wouldn't know where to start with altering a pattern. I usually follow the pattern and then end up with a jumper that doesn't fit, so ends up at the charity shop. Whatever you decide to do I'm sure it will be lovely, but whether either of you gets to wear it is another matter entirely!
ReplyDeleteI love the look of it and the way you've put the colors together. Good luck. I've had a number of disasters myself even when I did measure the gauge so I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteSue
That is going to be a wonderful sweater - I think Tetsu will love it! I would buy more yarn...
ReplyDeleteWell, I would buy more yarn too. Taking the knitting out more than once is too much. You all ready know I am not a whiz at math ... or even following a pattern.
ReplyDeleteYour yarn math skills are kinda like my quilting math skills. I never know how much I need, but, I tend to buy way more than I'll ever need. That's part of why my stash is so large.
ReplyDelete