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msmcknittingtonThis is an abject study in gauge and reading directions correctly.
Once upon a time, I was but a wee knittering, skilled in the ways of mittens, hats and scarves, but yearning for something big and amazing.
Enter the Heathery Duo skirt from the Fall 2004 Interweave Knits. It was true love at first sight. I live in Wisconsin; it gets cold. Skirts aren't for winter, but this skirt? This skirt was wintery, cold-proof. This skirt would allow me to buy knee-high suede boots and not look like an Eskimo.
But the yarn! Seven skeins of Cascade 220 at $8/skein? No way, man! How was I going to get those boots? So I found Cottage Craft, which was much cheaper and Canadian, so I'd be stimulating the international economy. Plus the Canadian dollar hadn't reached parity with the American dollar way back in 2004, so the conversion rate was in my favor.
Of course, since I was substituting yarn, I'd have to swatch very carefully for this. So I whipped out the size 9 needles, and . . . got gauge. I neglected, however, to wash or block the swatch or to do any of the things I'd do today to torment a swatch into behaving. Or to make a swatch larger than 3"x3". Or to read the pattern carefully, really.
I cast on and knit on the skirt sporadically for two years. I made mistakes; I ripped them out. This was a milestone project for me -- I was reading from charts, I was knitting lace, I was knitting something with more square area than my bed, possibly my bedroom. Even though I knit at the speed of snail, I was psyched. This was going to be the most beautiful skirt in the history of man. Queen Elizabeth? Psst. Queen Fug.
A year ago, I finished the first panel of the skirt and I was triumphant. One down, one to go. At this rate, I'd be done in 2010, but I didn't care. I figured I'd better measure it, just in case. So I did. And it was terible.
The skirt is supposed to 20.5" at the top edge, but it came out at 32". This would fit someone with a 63" hip measurement. I am currently 62" tall, so I don't think that's going to fly.
Where did I go wrong? Well, it appears that you're only supposed to cast on with the size 9 needle, and knit the skirt with the size 7 needle, which I didn't do. I assumed the size 7 needles were for the (ugly) garter stitch sweater that accompanied the pattern. But, no, I was wrong.
The lace was so beautiful, and looked so lovely in the Cottage Craft 2-ply. Great definition, and it would have bloomed beautifully when blocked.
But it was not to be. It will be, but not today. Not even in the near future. Why? Because I'm going to have to travel an hour to buy a size 7 needle. Ben Franklin and Wal-Mart, the closest things I've got to a LYS, start their circular needles at size 6, skip over 7 and go straight to 8 and on. That's BULLSHIT.
Don't even talk to me about trying to find DPNS or a circular below size 0. Just don't.
Once upon a time, I was but a wee knittering, skilled in the ways of mittens, hats and scarves, but yearning for something big and amazing.
Enter the Heathery Duo skirt from the Fall 2004 Interweave Knits. It was true love at first sight. I live in Wisconsin; it gets cold. Skirts aren't for winter, but this skirt? This skirt was wintery, cold-proof. This skirt would allow me to buy knee-high suede boots and not look like an Eskimo.
But the yarn! Seven skeins of Cascade 220 at $8/skein? No way, man! How was I going to get those boots? So I found Cottage Craft, which was much cheaper and Canadian, so I'd be stimulating the international economy. Plus the Canadian dollar hadn't reached parity with the American dollar way back in 2004, so the conversion rate was in my favor.
Of course, since I was substituting yarn, I'd have to swatch very carefully for this. So I whipped out the size 9 needles, and . . . got gauge. I neglected, however, to wash or block the swatch or to do any of the things I'd do today to torment a swatch into behaving. Or to make a swatch larger than 3"x3". Or to read the pattern carefully, really.
I cast on and knit on the skirt sporadically for two years. I made mistakes; I ripped them out. This was a milestone project for me -- I was reading from charts, I was knitting lace, I was knitting something with more square area than my bed, possibly my bedroom. Even though I knit at the speed of snail, I was psyched. This was going to be the most beautiful skirt in the history of man. Queen Elizabeth? Psst. Queen Fug.
A year ago, I finished the first panel of the skirt and I was triumphant. One down, one to go. At this rate, I'd be done in 2010, but I didn't care. I figured I'd better measure it, just in case. So I did. And it was terible.
The skirt is supposed to 20.5" at the top edge, but it came out at 32". This would fit someone with a 63" hip measurement. I am currently 62" tall, so I don't think that's going to fly.
Where did I go wrong? Well, it appears that you're only supposed to cast on with the size 9 needle, and knit the skirt with the size 7 needle, which I didn't do. I assumed the size 7 needles were for the (ugly) garter stitch sweater that accompanied the pattern. But, no, I was wrong.
The lace was so beautiful, and looked so lovely in the Cottage Craft 2-ply. Great definition, and it would have bloomed beautifully when blocked.
But it was not to be. It will be, but not today. Not even in the near future. Why? Because I'm going to have to travel an hour to buy a size 7 needle. Ben Franklin and Wal-Mart, the closest things I've got to a LYS, start their circular needles at size 6, skip over 7 and go straight to 8 and on. That's BULLSHIT.
Don't even talk to me about trying to find DPNS or a circular below size 0. Just don't.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-04 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-05 01:47 pm (UTC)