How to Start a Sweater
1. Determine sweater of choice. Trash the stash while looking for yarn to go with it. Tell the children it is not a mess, but a “reorganization”. (Pretend that the five bags of wool that won’t go back in the closet are out because I need them.)
2. Make a Neo Citran, Knit swatch. (That’s a lie. Start sweater, call it a swatch.) The sweater has a hem (That’s also a lie. it has ribbing but I don’t care for it.) and hems need to be knit at a tighter gauge than the rest of the sweater to keep it from flaring. The sweater needs to be at a gauge of 24 stitches to the inch…the hem needs to be less than that.
3. Notice immediately that this sweater is too big. Understand, thanks to many long years of screwing up knitting with incredible variation and surprising inventiveness, that my gauge is off and this sweater will definitely be too big.
4. Measure the gauge. Curse as I discover that I have 20 stitches to 10 cm instead of 24. (Or less…since this is the hem.)
5. Decide that I like it that way, and that I don’t want the stitches any tighter. Make an educated decision to knit a smaller size, and to cast on 10 fewer stitches.
6. Rip back.
7. Cast on 215 stitches instead of 225. Knit two rows. Think “That still looks like a lot”. Do a quick bit of mental math. Remember that I can’t do mental math and get a calculator. 5 stitches to the inch – 215 stitches = 43 inches. I have a 37 inch chest.
8. Rip back. Take more Neo Citran.
9. Decide to cast on 110 stitches (thus removing another inch.) and go down another needle size after all. Worry briefly about what I will do about the shaping when my numbers are so far off and decide (sometime around when my good buddy pheniramine maleate kicked in) that I will worry about that later.
10. Knit for a while. Wonder how it is that I can be knitting a sweater on smaller needles than before, with fewer stitches than before and still be getting a sweater that is way, way too big.
11. Measure gauge again and discover that despite all of this, I am now getting 22 stitches to 10 cm (instead of the 24 I was aiming for.)
Curse violently and loudly. Consider setting a match to the whole thing and then remember how bad burning wool smells.
11. Take the sweater off the needles and pull it up over my hips. Confirm that it is way too big. Way too. Wonder absently, since I am drinking so much neo citran, and because I have taken a lot of measures to make this sweater smaller…. if I am shrinking.
12. Decide that I don’t give a crap and I will just have a big sweater. It might be cold at Rhinebeck. I may have to layer. I’ll put this sweater on over…..I don’t know. 12 other sweaters. I keep knitting.
13. I purl a turning row and change to the larger needles. (I realize that this will make the sweater bigger, but it turns out that I would rather have a sweater the size of the last Dell Recall than rip back again.) I continue knitting.
14. When I am about ready to begin the first little bit of colourwork, I pull out my measuring tape to make sure that I have knit enough. Absently, I also measure my gauge. Imagine my shock when I have 24 stitches to 10cm.
15. Sit in stunned silence and try to figure out how my gauge went down when my needle size went up. I examine things closely and notice that the sweater does indeed look smaller now.
16. Realize with stunned horror that I must have the wrong needles. Instead of the sweater getting bigger after the row, it is smaller. This is the opposite of what I was trying to do with the hem.
17. Realize with further horror that I have 225 stitches instead of either the 215 I believed I cast on originally, or the 210 that I cast on after that. Feel burning bitter irony, since 225 was the number that the pattern suggested I cast on in the first place.
18. Measure the circular that I started with and the circular that I’m using now…discover that (you aren’t hardly going to believe this) that they are THE SAME SIZE. Two distinctly different gauges over the same number of stitches using the same type of needle.
Conclusions:
I don’t know squat about knitting.
Sedating antihistamines do not go with knitting calculations.
I will never, ever believe that gauge is my friend.
Now, completely by accident, I have the right gauge, over the right number of stitches and I have to rip back anyway because the freaking hem is all wrong, even though it was knit on the same size needles.
All suggestions as to how to proceed accepted. (Including the wool burning one. I’m too stuffed up to smell it.)
Supplement the cold medicine with wine? You sure won’t care about this debacle after that!
But your nails still look good. That’s the important thing.
I’d suggest that you throw it out into the middle of the street. Once it gets run over a few times, you can say, “Oh gee, it’s a little dirty–guess I’ll have to try something else.”
Just put down the needles, pop in an movie and let the drugs do thier job? Or, if you. must. knit., knit a Dulaan hat! (Ryan still needs 1800+ knitters to commit to 5 items each, see her blog)
No matter what size or how many stitches, it will always fit someone.
Hope you feel better soon.
I was going to suggest the wine, but Jen beat me too it – throwing your hands up in the air helps too – lol
Have you tried knitting the hem with 10% less stitches than the body. This, I believe, was Elizabeth Zimmerman’s way of doing it. You increase back to the correct number of stitches just before the turning row and the hem will not flare out. I saw this done in person on: http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/ … August 30th entry.
My question is, where can I get some of this Neo Citran? You’ve probably already solved the sweater dilemma by now. Feel better…
I just sat here at my desk chuckling and thinking of how in your book you say swatches are your friend. NEVER! LOL This was a brilliant entry, thanks!
Step one: More medicine, this time in the form of Screech.
Step two: Work on something else, something tame, something like socks.
Step three: More Screech.
Step four: Rip the damn thing out.
Step five: Call it a day.
I, too, was planning to recommend wine. Clearly, this is the way to go. I suggest that you cast the evil knitting aside, and not deal with it until wine starts to sound palatable again. Why not try something simple in the meantime, like Latvian mittens?
Hmmmm—aren’t those flared hems in style right now? It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful sweater.
my dear, it’s time to put the whole thing away in a dark place and start something completely different. the pain will wear off in a week or two.
Nap
I have no suggestion, since I to have fallen under your side effect number 2…yes (I tell my SnB group) that half completed alpaca lace pullover was a swatch.
urggg….at least your not alone:)
I am home sick with cold too. Your post made sense to me…. I must be sicker than I thought! I think we need more drugs and chocolate. I think I’ll go lay down now. Get well soon, and also belated congratulations and best wishes.
Yolande in NB
I have been one of your”silent supporters”. Even sent you joy on your wedding silently! But THIS….bless you, I thought I was the ONLY one in the world who could do this kind of a freak-out! Been there, done that. Take a nap. Try again another day.
Having never knit a sweater, I cannot help you out here. However, I hate knitting a swatch for gauge and try to avoid it whenever I can. Luckily, I only knit scarves, socks and mittens, so it doesn’t really matter! I have tried baby sweaters that turned out all right, but haven’t actually completed one.
I can tell you that knitting a swatch is much like washing your fabric when you quilt. A thing I hate to do! It takes time away from the cutting of the fabric and the actual quilting.
Good luck – perhaps you need a math refresher course!
jennifer
This post sounds a lot like how I knit. I feel a little better about my methods, now, since I am not the only person who does things incorrectly.
At the current time, I’m Socktoberfesting with Meg Swanson’s Blue and Cream Stocking, a lovely pattern that I’ve modified a bit. (Translation: I took the primary motif from the pattern and added some Latvian Mitten motifs and I’m making knee socks that will look like they are maybe relatives of the Blue and Cream Stocking only in red and gray, using a different decrease scheme of my own making. On smaller needles. But I’ll still wear them on my feet! That’s got to count for something, right?) Near as I can tell, I like to have patterns around so that I can not-follow them.
Catching up on my blog-reading…..congratulations! And just put the sweater away until you feel better…. or until you have nothing better to knit. Sometimes I don’t wear finished items because I remember the bad times I had with the knitting. You don’t want to catch THAT habit!
This is why the five bags of wool won’t fit back in the closet. You need them to knit a sweater.
The wool always knows. You just have to listen!
(P.S. Hope you feel better soon!)
19. Decide this sweater is for someone else. You can decide who later. Keep on knitting.
Knit a sock.
Ok, I just love those colors!
Tequila?
Do some macrame.
Sorry, no suggestions – I’m too distracked by your fancy manicure!
Wine? Tea? Pseudophendrine? No way. For a serious illness, you need a serious remedy Stephanie. My personal favorite….(drumroll)….codeine-laced cough syrup. Toss the spoon back in the drawer and drink directly from the bottle. In no time at all, you’ll be outside dancing bum-naked and having fun doing it! 🙂 Feel better soon! XOXOX
Call the flared hem and the turning row a “design feature” and leave it, and continue knitting happily. Practice saying, “I totally meant to do that.”
Feel well soon, please.
Obviously the pattern and needles are defective and need to be recalled.
Reading about the problems that other people have when they’ve been knitting ten times longer than me makes me feel so much better about my really stupid mistakes..I hope you feel better soon! That sweater better be worth all the trouble it’s putting you through! And your nails do look pretty!
Stomping and cursing?
Or, my favorite—
Start another sock. Or three. (there’s so very many beautiful patterns out there. oh, look, a butterfly……..)
Dear Mrs Yarn Harlot (tee hee),
Clearly your wool has a spell on it, and it doesn’t matter a jot what you do, it has a life of its own and will come out The Way It Wants. Accept it. Your wool is enchanted. Or you are.
You’ll be at Rhinebeck! Yippee!!
Agreed with Juno. Who cares, your nails are still fantastic
Ok, wait, so you like the sweater except for the hem part, right?
Why not cut the hem off at the purl turning row, and knit the hem facing down from there. Any wonkiness (or fudging to make it smaller won’t show, and you won’t have to rip back. (Or you could insert ribbing there instead…)
Good luck, feel better!
Allyson and I have the same idea – Steph it’s time for a nap.
You’ll feel better. Soon I hope!
(((hugs)))
1. Throw ‘swatch’ into black hole from which it can never return. 2. Stop Neo Citran and switch to coffee. Lots of coffee. 3. Watch Battlestar Galactica (season 3 starts tonight!) or Lost DVDs. 5. Knit nice, comforting sock. In the alternative to Mr. Sock, perhaps plan the holiday knitting schedule. After all, it is only 11 weeks and 2 days to Christmas. Less if you celebrate Yule, or Hanukkah.
This mirrors the mishaps with my Na Craga sweater (which also looks much too big). Meanwhile, I think you should just rest. After all, you’ve had a stressful couple of weeks. Feel better soon, honey!
I’d recommend contacting some mathematicians and telling them that you’ve discovered that their entire basis for numbers and counting is dead wrong, and that you’d recommend them starting up an entirely new system based on your recent discovery.
Or, yeah, wine works too.
Now that you’ve gotten gauge for the sweater – knit it! Then, rip out the second color in there, and knit the hem 10% smaller after the sweater is done.
Alternately, pick a different pattern. 🙂
I’m having the same problem, right down to the antihistimine. I managed to get gauge when I put Peggy Sue Got Married in, however. I’d pulled this sleeve out 4 times… Peggy Sue is over now and I’m wondering what will have the same effect so I can keep gauge and not have wasted a whole sick day. The American President? Dirty Dancing? Probably not John Wayne…
I just finished a sweater that’s too small for me. Want to finish yours and then trade?
It was the Neo Citran. You will be totally sugar crazed by that stuff.
Switch to tea and begin the hem again.
Please repeat after me.
1. Chocolate
2. Wine
2. Kid Silk Haze
1. Put the wool in time out.
2. Run hot bath.
3. Make a hot chocolate (instead of another Neo Citran).
4. Soak in hot bath while drinking hot chocolate – male company optional here.
5. Feel refreshed.
6. Cast on sweater again – but not with the actual wool from the first attempts – use virign wool so there will be no “contamination”.
7. Happily complete sweater.
8. Wear to Rhinebeck.
9. Say “hello” to trek at Rhinebeck. Feel free to make spinning wheel suggestions while you are at it.
It’s good to hear that everything is back to normal chez Harlot.
I had a similar incident with a mitten and a headache last night. I admitted defeat and went to bed. I think it was the right decision.
I suggest you rip the sweater and re-wind the wool. Put it aside and take a nap. When you wake up, convince yourself that it was a bad dream and begin knitting the sweater for the first time.
Second vote for ‘call flared hem a design feature’.
Also, my eyeballs read ‘Neo Citran’ and my brain immediately substituted ‘Neon Citron’ (a vodka I don’t think actually exists), and insisted that it was a kind of fruity martini. And now, all I can seem to think of is a nice, cold martini.
You know. For my arthritis. Oooooo. The pain. Change of weather and all, hitting the joints pretty hard today…too cheap to turn on the heater just yet…Yessir, this is definitely martini-weather, right here…
Seriously, tho – feel better soon. That’ll be the best cure for the sweater.
Snip a stitch in the last row of the hem and unravel it, picking up the live stitches of the “body” at the same time. Then, using a smaller needle, knit a new hem downward, leaving the correct body as is. Sure it is a bit of work, but so is reknitting the whole thing!
Anytime you feel the need to purge wool for any reason, please take time to contact me first.
I also agree with some other comments that occassionly, the pattern is not right for the wool. In such cases, chuck pattern or choose different wool. This would be an excellent time for you to reshop your stash. Venturing out to a yarn store could lead to infecting other knitters.
Must be American needles. I once bought a pair of 7s from a big-box retailer that were somehow larger than the 8s they’d sold me previously. What on earth?! That was the beginning of my love for metric sizes in needles; too bizarre. But for today, something easy, like, say, lace, sounds like it might be a better idea?
Hmmm maybe I should knit up my sweater for Rhinebeck.. But it would cover up my blogger bingo shirt.. hmmm.. but I don’t have a cold.. hmmm.. oh.. about you.. just go with it!!!
It;s a good thing!
Mmm Neo Citran. That is good stuff. If only they had it in the States.
The above suggestions are all well and good, but, after the wine, screech, nap and movie, I suggest snipping your cast on row (when you’re all done with the sweater, unraveling to the turning row and then getting needles that are, in fact, smaller than current needles and knitting down from the hem. Make sense? I’ve done it before, and, while terrifying, it’s bettern than ripping everything.
Good luck
Keep knitting. You can cut off the offending ribbing, er I mean hem, and pick up stitches along the bottom of the now correct-gauge body stitches to add a hem later, a la Elizabeth Zimmerman. (Or at least that’s who I think of as I type this.) Remember, the knitting shouldn’t ravel from the bottom up, right? Just from the top down. If you’ve got gauge, baby, don’t desert it now! It may never deign to accompany you again . . .
I stick with Red Raspberry leaf tea and some herbal laxatives, (and very little food), and I’m over my colds in a day or so–without all of the nasty meds and side effects. Since cleansing is awful anyway, I figure if I combine it with a cold, it’s all over together, and faster than doing it separately.
Best of luck. With those heavy meds, you’ll need it. I’d rather be sick than medicated, any day.
You know, the way you keep bringing up all this math shit, I’m starting to think you really *do* want to see my eyes bleed. You couldn’t have done this at a time we were both stoned on OTC cold meds?
Remember that there is one other thing that contributes to changes in guage: stress. I bet the first guage is the right one, and the second one is tighter because of you being so stressed out about the first one not being right.
Hmmm…
That made my head hurt from all the math. And the thought that you were going for 24 stitches to the INCH (obviously a typo) nearly made me scream in horror. Then the thought of casting on 215 stitches (another typo) made the mind boggle.
Holy hell. The sweater is cursed. Frog it and pick a different pattern altogether.
Do NOT knit a sweater while on antihistamines. If you absolutely must knit, knit a scarf or afghan or something that doesn’t require fitting (and that does not mean begin another lace shawl!). When you pack for trip to Rhinebeck, think of me; feel sorry for me, takes tons of pictures for me…cause I wanna go, I wanna go, I wanna go… but I can’t. Oops, you are sick, i should feel sorry for you…self-centered brat bids you wellness and serenity. take care
OR, Plan B (which makes the above, Plan A): go ahead with the sweater and donate it to charity when completed since it ain’t gonna fit you.
If you do decide to rip it all back, rewind the wool into balls, then hold the balls near (but not too near) an open flame while threatening that if they do not behave in future, you really will set them on fire.
Hope you feel better soon, and your wool begins to behave properly.
As I recall, the great Elizabeth Zimmermann often left the “bottom treatment” decision until the end. She used a provisional cast-on, so all you’ve done is made a really *long* provisional cast on. One that incorporates a swatch. You’re just really efficient!
I’d say just proceed with the sweater, now that you’re on target, and hopefully it will go so smoothly and nicely that when you’re finished, the choice of what to do on the hem will seem like a delicious creative opportunity.
When you decide what to do, snip the wool at the turning row (which is a different colour, like a proper provisional cast on!), unravel the “provisional cast on” pick up the body stitches and knit downwards. The turning row (if you decide to keep it) or the ribbing (if you decide to rib after all) or the other edge stitch (if you decide on a totally different thing) will hide the fact that you’re a half-stitch off because of changing direction, right?
Admit it. You set that shot up just to show off the gorgeous nail job again. (Juno started it…)
At least your two needle sizes (that are, lo and behold, actually the same) exist. Try getting gauge with a hypothetical needle. It’s a bitch.
On second thought, if you’re taking that much Neo-Citran, chances are you’ve already tried the hypothetical route…
Don’t rip back! Carefully snip a stitch in the last row of the hem, and pull out one row’s worth of yarn. Put the loops on a needle and knit the hem back down.
Hmmm… so much for my plans of trying to knit a sweater… I’m now terrified. I think I’ll stick to socks and hats and things of such a nature.
I say, pretend the whole thing never happened, once you get out of your cold medicine stupor it will seem like a dream anyway. Start over, new yarn, new sweater.
First: I know that I am late but Congrats on the wedding!
Second: Put down the sweater and walk away. Give it an hour or three before trying math and the “gauge” again.
Comfort vibes going your way!
I agree with Juno.
take more antihistamines.
give up on the sweater.
um sleep.
Why don’t you just continue on the body as it is, and remove the lower edge later? Pick up sts, knit a new hem: leave the whole sordid mess behind for now. 🙂
Considering I’ve just gone the hot bath and Neo Citran route myself, I’m no help to you. Good luck with that. I have to try to convince the boychild that he wants to cuddle and watch a movie now so I can close my eyes for a bit.
Just when I think “Why another book? What more is there to say about knitting?” (notice I own all 3 other books and all 3 knitlit books), I read this, laugh until I cry (not at your pain, that would be wrong. It’s style all the way), and want to get a passport, quit my job, move to Canada, and sit outside the publisher’s door until the new book is ready. Thanks for all you do, Mrs Harlot!
What is this Neo Citran? It must be QUITE the stuff!
Sounds like the Guage Goddess is toying with you.
I knit a sweater,
It was to long.
With colors bright
but not quite right
The width was off,
(perhaps my head was soft?)
but I kept on knitting anyway.
With needles flailing wide and true
I couldn’t help but wonder…
Would this all look better in blue?
The sizing odd
Will 3X really fit my bod?
Not what I planned
This damn sweater
might now fit a man.
But still I knit
somewhat in a twit
Sneezing, slurping
Sighing, alas,
still burping
My suggestion? Add alcohol of your choice… the stronger the better! Then go to bed, girlfriend!
I suggest at least one bottle of expensive red wine, this will fix anything.
I’m very nervous to start my first sweater, this story did not help, maybe I’ll stick to tuques and bags…
I once took over a sweater project on circs for someone…and it turned out to be five feet in diameter. I swear to God it looked like a wooly hula hoop. It always helps to know that someone else is worse at math and gauge than you are!
Stephanie –
Neo Citran® Cough & Colds DM
PRECAUTIONS: Do not drive or operate machinery while taking this product.
ma·chine (mə-shēn’) n.
· A device consisting of fixed and moving parts that modifies mechanical energy and transmits it in a more useful form.
· An intricate natural system or organism, such as the human body.
Since both the knitting needles and you qualify as machinery, you should put down the swatch, drink a cup of hot tea, and go back to bed. Hope you feel better soon.
Karen T.
Oakland, CA
Cut the yarn at the end of the turning row. Unpick the turning row, pick up body stitches, knit down to bottom.
What is with these people? Wine? Tequila? (The hot chocolate has it’s merits, though). I’m sending matches. Sometimes arson is the only thing to calm us. Stare directly into the flames, it is quite soothing.
🙂
Turn the thing upside-down! Bind off the edge you’ve been working, and then pick up stitches from the cast-on edge. Your tighter gauge then becomes the hem, while the wider gauge becomes the body of the sweater. Alternately, call it a cummerbund and wear it over the sweater you knit next (just make sure it’s coordinating colors).
1. Drink lots of bourbon and some sugary mixer
2. Take long bath
3. Read a few blogs that also tell of the horrors of gauge swatching or realizing something is the wrong size
4. Feel better about it
5. Rip out sweater and look at the little crinkly pile
6. Cry
7. More bourbon
8. Retry and repeat above if necessary.
Here is what you do: chalk this one up to being psychic. You thought you were making all these calculations and provisions for your sweater, but subconsciously you knew what you were doing the whole time. The hem problem? It’s just blog fodder–another brilliant forethought on your part. Congrats.
My best suggestion: Take up woodworking.
Oh no, that involves measuring, too.
You are doomed.
didn’t you knit a green sweater for the Olympics?
Do a provisional cast on and do the body of the sweater first. Worry about the hem later. In other words, procrastinate about the hem!
Looked up Neo Citran (www.neocitran.ca). Sounds like US Nyquil with Tylenol thrown in, depending on exactly which form. No wonder the post sounds like you’re under the influence.
First clue was at “sweater needs to be at a gauge of 24 stitches to the inch”. Not in my lifetime.
Go knit washcloths till you’re done with the drugs. If they’re way too big, claim they are dishtowels instead.
You do realize that in your post at least (I don’t know if your counting and math reflect this) that you started talking about casting on 225 sts and ended with 125 sts as the “correct number”. I don’t if it was a typo, the neocitran speaking or something happening with the pattern/your knitting.
Oh – to paraphrase yourself “Gauge lies lies and lies.”
Having just had to explain very forcefully to my husband that knitting a hem means that you _want_ to turn it under, and no, it doesn’t look better with a rolled edge and a featured purl row – hey – perhaps he’s right and I’m wrong – go with that rolled baby! It was never ever meant to be a hem…
Don’t knit a sweater for Rhinebeck…grrl, you are a glutton for punishment. Enjoy knitting the sweater, in its time…remember what I always say…
I think that the best way to proceed is to chuck it all and knit shawl! Sounds like a chant to me. Go on strike (it’s a tradition in Toronto I hear).
Chuck it all and knit shawl,
Chuck it all and knit shawl,
Chuck it all and knit shawl,
Chuck it all and knit shawl!
So…it’s going just like it’s supposed to, why not keep going?
No, no,no….mulled wine with a cold! Good red wine, lots of lemon,orange and spices…then you don’t give a fig about the sweater…just knit and sip!
Hope you feel better soon.
Well, I’m sure I’m not the first to suggest But, if it were me, I would hide it away somewhere (hopefully to be dealt with later) and start something new.
WOW this sounds EXACTLY like the sweater I’m knitting right now… except that you haven’t factored in a bit of corrugated ribbing which is now my nemesis.
Best of luck.
You got an eyebrow raising on step 12 – you’re knitting this for Rhinebeck??? – and a chuckle on seeing the french manicure.
Yeah, knit on, do the hem later. You’ve accidentally settled into a fortuitous combination of sts, needles and gauge, don’t mess with a good thing.
look outside. It’s a full moon tonight.
That makes the wool wiley and strange.
I learned this from my mother. When things go wrong, it has something to do with this being aligned with that in something or other house.
So it’s the planets really. Pass me some wine.
Undo the cast on and rip back just until you get to the part that’s on guage, setting all those stitches on a holder or bit of yarn. Then knit down from there, making the hem however you like.
I’m with one of the previous comments. That is not a hem, that is an interesting provisional cast on. As you seem to have mastered the body of the sweater (or at least you THINK you have whilst under the influence of much better remedies than we have here)) I’d carry on with the bit that works and ignore the offending hem. When your brain has returned to the same planet as the rest of you, chop the hem off, pick up and knit down with whatever needles seem right at the time. For all we know they’re the same as the ones you’re already using and the change in tension is due to the meds and not the needles. You may pull it out for other reasons before you have to deal with the hem, I’m not sure that Neo Whatsit and colourwork are really going to hit it off, a nice garter stitch scarf is probably more suited to your current state of mind.
Why do you think I am only knitting dishcloths? Because drugs and gauge don’t play together at all!
Sorry about your cold, happy to hear about the wedding. Feel better soon!
Okay, now I’m officially freaked out. I’m supposed to be knitting a sweater for my dad for Christmas. It will be my first adult sweater, and I can’t for the life of me knit a swatch to the right gauge. Your experience only makes me think that perhaps I should just make him a nice pair of socks instead. Get some rest and feel better soon!
I had the same experience last night except mine involved trying to cast on a baby sweater in dark blue merino while sitting at the bar in one of my favorite little watering holes sipping a lovely Australian port and hearing about a friend’s trip to Italy. Needless to say, I started the whole thing over again at lunchtime today. You’ll probably be pretty useless until the meds wear off so I say go for it! Keep working on it and see what you think when you’re sober!
I second the tequila. That fixes everything.
Can you explain crop circles?
I have only one moment and haven’t read the other comments, but how about a rolled hem? no ribbing required. feel better. xox
Make a scarf.
This may be the dumbest question ever, but can’t you snip the hem and pull it out and reknit it? I’m too much of a newbie to do it, but you’ve steeked. Scissors can’t be that intimidating to the holy ones… 🙂
Are you sure the bottle doesn’t say Citron and is actually vodka? Does the bottle have a tag that says “drink me” on it? Have you eaten anything with a note that said “eat me” on the plate? Have you perhaps gone back and forth between the two? I suggest throwing down the knitting and dancing in the living room to Jefferson Airplane with your HUSBAND. Does it feel cool to say that? Like, cooler than it did last week?
I was going to suggest vodka, but hordes of knitters beat me to it. Chocolate is also good (someone probably beat me to that too, I didn’t read all zillion comments). Maybe some hot cider with ginger brandy in it? Good for what ails you, all the way around.
Kristin’s suggestion is brilliant. It is st st, right? That still leaves you with half the knitting to do, but it would save you something. I think. You’d still have to pick up and knit down. Doable but fiddly. I think.
sorry, i know you were talking about knitting, but i got distracted by how pretty your hands look with a manicure. (i noticed it in the wedding photo too). you, are probably like me and normally eschew manicures, but, i just wanted to say—isn’t it nice sometimes, just once in a while?
I second what Liz said — call what was the “hem” the body, and call what was the “body” the hem, and all’s right with the world (except your cold).
That sounds pretty much like how it goes when I start a sweater too. 🙂
HAHAHahahahahahahaha………
Work on Joe’s gansey instead?
It’s not just me! It’s not just me! I feel much better — sorry about you.
Suggestions: 1) a nap, 2) tea w/ a bit of Irish, 3) sock knitting – socks are our friends – they don’t pull this gauge crap (very often), and 4) rip that little bitch and start over – tomorrow.
I feel your pain. I find that knitting something VERY EASY is the only way to go with a cold. I, too, am knitting a sweater for Rhinebeck. Alright, I’ll get to the point. While trying to figure the math, I kept thinking, “She’s going to Rhinebeck!” Will you have a table, or should I just stalk like a creepy?
Not wine. I don’t advise wine with knitting. Why? Because I knit for a week on a top down raglan–my after dinner, after wine knitting–before I realized I was knitting an extra sleeve. That’s right, three sleeves.
I now consider that wine with knitting results in knitting “three sleeves to the wind.”
Wine + cold meds + knitting would probably be worse.
Crochet something instead?
Ha! See! That sweater seems like a good idea now, doesn’t it?
Um, Stephanie, doesn’t the (new) bad sweater look just a bit like (color-wise, at least) the old bad sweater (the evil Grenyrn)? Just saying….
If flaring is a problem, run some elastic through the hem. Or crochet an edge onto the fold, skipping every fourth or fifth stitch depending on how much you want to contract it.
Cut the yarn, slide the good part onto a needle, unravel the hem, reattach the yarn and knit the hem with a smaller needle going backwards.
For the record, knitting with a buzz will make things go about as poorly. You’d think I’d have been fine starting up a sock last night after only having one beer… but apparently life doesn’t give a damn what you think, either. 🙂
I think we all, in some small way, feel your pain.
All the fashionistas I know are saying that tunics are in this season. Knit an enormous sweater, and wear it with pride, knowing you will be on the cutting edge of fashion. Or not.
Cold meds have the same effect that good beer has on knitting calculations. Can’t imagine the horror I had trying to write out the pattern for the already-knit glove over two pints of Guinness…
Take a nap . . . instruct the girls whilst you are napping, to rip it out, and wind it nicely. Pretty please. Don’t look at it again for a few days . . . at least.
Quit knitting until you are off the cold meds.
It’s Set. You know, the Ancient Egyptian lord of Chaos. He’s messing with you. Just go have a lie down so he’ll get bored and go away.
Ummmmm.
Finish the shawl. Love lace knitting, makes me crazy… but never have to worry bout guage!
Or… Tell us the title of the new book?
(That would be nice anyways)
Trash the entire thing to the back of the closet. The yarn is clearly objecting because it wants to be something else. I think this is a great excuse to buy more yarn.
Or else, throw it out into the nearest mudpuddle to be an example to all the rest of the wool. What happens when you don’t obey the Harlot! A good stomping might help here, too.
Swatch?? What’s a swatch?? (-:
Maybe instead of a sweater you need something like a ruana. 😉
Steph, You have really attracted a funny bunch of folks. I laughed and nodded throughout your blog and everyone’s response. (And I agree-put it away for now, have a drink and take a nap, not necessarily in that order.)
By the way, is this Neo Citran that you talk about like our NyQuil? Just curious.
Keep going on the sweater, then when you’re done with it, take out the cast-on and re-knit it.
I have no suggestions. I too have bigsweateritis as of late…just getting ready to post about it myself 🙂 How is it that no matter how much measuring sweaters sill end up OFF!!!???
Is horizontal steeking an option?
Continue knitting as if nothing ever happened, then slice off the bad part that you don’t want after sewing the sts secure. Pick up sts and knit a new narrower hem. Voila!
Shhhhh..what’s that sound? Why, its the gansey and the shawl making out in a forgotten corner of the knitting basket…..
Flaired hem??? Bigger in the bust. hmmm…you sure you’re not pregnant?
This has a very simple solution. So simple, in fact, that I am stunned you haven’t thought of it. Must be the cold meds. Everytime you get to the end of a row, eat a piece of chocolate. Change none of your math. Knit along happily and know that your “oversized” sweater will fit you perfectly in the end or else you have to eat more chocolate. Darn.
In the interest of peace of mind and ease of work just do the snip and knit down bit Elizabeth Zimmerman style. This can be done at any point in the project. Meanwhile try to take care of yourself, so you’ll get well.
I just knit a hem on the same size needles as the rest of the garment. It’ll probably flare, but I am still in denial. It’ll be just fine. And if it isn’t…
There’s a benefit to using the annoying provisional cast on. I can always rip back and use smaller needles to knit down. This might be a great solution for hems in general: use a provisional cast on so you can rip if you don’t like.
Not that this helps any once you’re past the casting on stage, of course. But I’m just saying.
1. The last time a project gave me that much trouble, I decided it was jinxed & hid it for about 3 months. When I resumed work on it, I gave it a new name (like they do with ships that have experienced too much bad luck), and was able to complete it with only a couple more small problems.
2. Switch to gift knitting while this sweater is having its timeout. You can decide who the gift is for when it is complete (i.e., whoever it will fit).
3. Chocolate will do more for illness than any other drug or vitamin in world. Trust me. It’s OK to combine the chocolate with other therapies, however, such as drugs/alcohol.
Hope you feel better soon!
i vote with the folks who suggest snipping the hem at the turning row and removing, then knitting down. i’ve done that with flaring hems and it’s a good thing.
i can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen to the gauge when the meds wear off. will you have to keep taking them the whole time you’re knitting the sweater body to keep your gauge the same?
It seems you have a definite case of gauge goblins. See this post: http://knittingandknotting.blogspot.com/2006/08/guards-guards.html
A friend was visiting home (by which I mean the whole of Canada. A little inaccurate but, hey, it’s the whole of your country you are identified by when you go abroad) and told me she went to Lettuce Knit! Dammit, she probably met a few of your co-wedding conspirators, too. What a missed opportunity, I could have got her to deliver some of the wool of my people… oh well.
BTW, I like how your nails are still looking good post ceremony; having a cold is obviously preventing them from being completely trashed, so perhaps not all bad have a doozy of a cold?
Have fun storming the castle, er, sneezing and knitting!
A good fire. Some chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers for s’mores. Or…. leave it in the yard for the gray squirrel’s winter nest. Perhaps cutting it into pieces first.
I’d go back to the gansey, I think. Personally, I’ve had to revert to straight ordinary (tho’ warm) scarf knitting until I’m rid this drat cold. Boring, but manageable.
Keep knitting, don’t rip. You can always undo the hem from the bottom, and then reknit the hem top-down. What are the odds you ever get gauge again!
Yes, I have a suggestion. Use it as a pillow and drool on it while watching reruns of Quantum Leap on the sci-fi channel, and come back to it when you’re feeling a wee bit better.
Hi
I’m with Jo on this , keep knitting then rip back hem later and reknit going down a needle size and decreasing stitch no.
Really it will be better for you and the yarn this way. 🙂
By the way so pleased to “hear” your news. Finally taking the plunge and finding out the water wasn’t so cold after all. Heh, heh. Decided to wait and wish you all well as there were so many comments. Fancy having you own daughters as bridesmaids when marrying their dad. Not many can say that.
Cheers and hope you are feeling better soon. Oh by the way looking forward to your next book. Any hints as to contents!!??
Hey! That’s the way I make a sweater, too! Isn’t it grand?
Re sweater: offering any tips that involve #s (unless to take out or urgent care) is considered cruel and unusual, and results in punishment by pointy sticks at -oops, almost got me- several short paces. So instead, my advice is to sit back, and watch reruns. Forget new stuff, you wont remember them anyway.
Rhinebeck? The wool mecca of the Northeast? Not on your tour page; are you eventing or just visiting? ‘Cause if it is the latter- be prepared to be the pied piper of fiber, as you ramble thru the roving and s/troll thru the stalls. Just saying.
I think it may have something to do with the nails. Are you sure you are not holding the needles differently in order to enjoy their loveliness?
1. Lock up wool with moths. (Remember the Boo Box in Hook? You have an old trunk and a box of moths, yes?)
2. Nap.
Good luck!
Who can concentrate on knitting problems when they’re laughing this hard? Oh, the irony!!
I have to agree with the SEVERAL people who said — just keep knitting! You can pick up from the purl ridge and simply cut off the offending pseudo hem/big swatch.
The gauge gods have clearly spoken — this circular needle and this yarn and the number of stitches called for in the pattern.
However, you might want to wait until your head is a bit clearer since Neocitran appears to have spoken as well. 🙂
Ignore problem until you wake up from your NeoCitran haze and realize it was all just a bad dream and your knitting is perfect.
Wine seems to be the common suggestion, I concur.
Beth
I was a little worried when you said 24 stitches to the inch. When you had two number 11s, I realized you were still drugged when you wrote this. Go have a lie down.
Ancient Chinese Wisdom: never start new project while sick or on drugs.
Hide the knitting deep deep in the closet and go do some honeymoon stuff 😉
Steph, I get such a huge kick out of you. That was a great post, we’ve all been there. Are you really going to Rhinebeck?! I just decided the other day I *need* to go. Yay!
Rhinebeck…did you say Rhinebeck?! Hope you will be able to make it there – it’s a great festival.
Rest up and feel better so you can really enjoy it!
ha rough. story of my life.
And that is why I don’t knit sweaters
Undo the hem, re-knit downwards instead of upwards, et voila!
Make a swatch!!!! I do it for socks, I do it for a soaker to go over a diaper, I did it for a sweater that I am making (the sleeves came out wrong and I swatched) Also you have very nice nails. 🙂 They looked great in the ring picture, and very nice in the sweater picture. Mine are red from the food paste from the cake I made today.
SWATCHES ARE OUR FRIENDS! DON’T FIGHT IT!!!!
What? Did you say something? I can’t hear you, my ears are all cloggy and the decongestant isn’t helping one bit. Ohhhh, the pressure.
Hang in there, Steph…it’ll be fine in the end. 😉
~Suz~
SWATCh swatch swatch!! but now that you have the right guage leave it alone and just keep going. A very peaceful and quiet weekend should cure that cold along with some Jamiesons zinc lozengers. Happy Thanksgiving to Mr & Mrs Mc Phee and the lovely girls.
1. No sharp pointy cutting things while drugged. Put. Down. Any. Scissors. You may unintentionally harm your knitting.
2. It’s Socktoberfest! You should knit some socks 😀
This is a really bad post for someone who’s just had surgery to read. I think I busted some stitches laughing. (Sorry.) I vote for the wine.
Me, I’d rip it and cast on with a smaller needle (a real one this time that’s different from the body needle by 2 sizes!) with the 225 stitches. I would also count 50 stitches, place a marker, count another 50, place a marker, etc. And I would count and recount to be sure that I got the correct number of stitches cast on this time
I would also do this when not under the influence of any drugs or wine. And once I joined circularly (I assume that’s what you’re doing) and was sure it wasn’t twisted, then I’d open up the bottles!
But this is just me and I can be anal.
I, too, saw Neo Citran and decided it must be a brilliant yellowy/orangey/limey fleece that you made/spun the yarn from. It actually made sense for a while.
Excellent. Thought I was the only one with a Gauge Problem………
Just getting to reading some blogs as have been busy the last few days.
Glad to hear the book is out of your hands just now and you can relax.
Really happy that you have taken the marriage step since it seems so important to you both. How very nice that you included the girls with a visible tie to the family. Sure hope that you have many many years of happiness and health and laughter and knitting in the future.
New life means a new project, I can understand. Think that might be postponed until the cold is gone. May I suggest Cold FX. Be a good Canadian and try it out. Bit more expensive to start but since you might only need 16 pills to clear you cold out, it certainly makes sense. I started the sore throat yesterday and stuffy head today. Have had one dose and already feeling like I am going to live.
Good luck and hope you feel up to posting a lot.
believe it or not i just had pretty much the sameish opposite thing happen to me. i swatched, though, and on 8s and 9s and got the same gauge somehow. i went with 8s and did the hem on 6s without swatching. switched to my 8s and the hem looks wonky. i have gauge on the 8s but the gauge on the 6s is huge. i’m continuing anyway, hoping it will block out. if it doesn’t, i’m doing the old snip and frog and this sweater gets a rolled hem instead.
I would humbly suggest you consider a different course of action. Try something new. Perhaps toiletpapering the neighborhood? It’s all the craze here and it would afford you some fresh air(always good for a cold). Additionally, I’ve always heard “feed a cold” and since everyone knows that good beer is a food item. . . .
Too bad about the sweater. Your math on Neo-Citran sounds like my math stone cold normal.
Is it possible to thread in a lifeline, rip up to the colour change and then knit the hem down?
Socks are always a rip-roaring good time!
I see you’re still sporting the bride manicure! Leave the sweater alone…relax…enjoy you’re honeymoon. We’ll recognize you at Rhinebeck no matter what you’re wearing!
I’d totally ignore it. River in Egypt, and all that. Hem, what hem? Then you have a whole sweater’s worth of knitting during which you can consider your options.
Maybe it will look fine. Maybe it really is the right size and the Neo-Citran (whatever that is) has you fooled. Maybe you can snip and reknit the hem. Hell, maybe you can felt the hem! But don’t worry about it when you have gauge now – forget it and knit!
Sweater physics. Gotta love it.
On the other hand, your nails still look terrific!
I know that I should have some helpful, soothing or encouraging words, but having spent the past two weeks in Gauge Hell, I’m just too thankful to know that I’m not alone. I’m starting the damn sweater, already. If I have to layer 12 sweaters underneath it, well, I’ll see you at Rhinebeck. 🙂
Is it very wrong of me to admit that I now have Bruce McCulloch’s voice in my head, saying “Look, baby, I found you some Neo Citran!,” and Mark McKinney (as trashy girlfriend) replying, “Ohhh, always the little provider!”?
If I’m getting this right you are at the suggested number of stitches and at the suggested gauge. Don’t rip, keep going! When your done. Snip the hem and take off the hem just before the turning row pick up the stitches with a smaller needle and knit the hem up.
The knitters suggesting removing the hem and reknitting it smaller — or even changing it a la E.Z. — after the sweater is finished are right on!
just another compliment on the nails…:-)
how about finishing the roundabout tank instead? and then the gansey? and that lovely shawl you were measuring your plane flights with? or maybe the shropshire shawl? or, to keep it simple, how about a dishcloth or two to keep you fingers busy and your mind sane while the allergies last?
*grin*
God bless you, poor thing!
Commend yourself on finding your tape mesure. Commend yourself on finding your needles.
Commend yourself on finding the yarn you wanted.
Do something else you can commend yourself on…& remember.. You’re a newlywed!!! Enjoy!
Hmmmm. Want to congratulate you on your better-late-than-never wedding…and to wish you a speedy recovery from your code id da node. And to pray you eventually have a sweater that works!
Hugs,
Marg in Calgary
No advice from this quarter- I’v only been knitting since January. I do have a question, though…
What about the Gansey, and the shawl? I’d love to see pics of those.
I am, of course, assuming you finished those before starting a brand-new sweater.
No helpful suggestions here. I’m still haggard from the last sweater.
I will politely invite you, however, to come laugh at this: http://knittiot.blogspot.com
Its even funnier if you’re on cold medicine.
Now Stephanie, listen up, I’m a pharmacist. First, take more sedating antihistamines. Next, take something with pseudoephedrine in it (now a controlled substance in Oregon). Start getting jittery and cranky, paw through more stash yarn, throw some dramatically into the trash, and then cry yourself to sleep. While having drug-addled dreams of giant sweaters with inside-out hems, Joe will sneak in, unravel the sweater while taking detailed notes of what gauge finally worked on what needles, and he’ll re-wind the balls so that when you wake up, you’ll believe that this never actually happened. Then swear off all medications and drink mint tea.
Rip from the bottom up and knit the hem down. Then have some more cold medicine. Drugs are our friends and strangers have the best candy.
I agree with Tara, keep going and redo the hem later. Those darn bespoke sweaters which, in theory, ought to fit the recipients.
So, what about the shawl and gansey?? Are those now scheduled for Anniversary dates?
Chocolate! Lots! And a nap 🙂
I also do simular “swatching”. Same type of experience with migrainnes and knitting. I highly recomend tossing it in a bag, stuffing the bag somewhere dark, and forget this ever happened. At some point in the future an archeologist will discover it and wonder!
Oh yeah, belated congrats on the wedding.
I hate swatching. Particularly with fuzzy yarn. There, I’ve gone and said it. The next time I try to knit something, it’ll be completely wonky and screwy. ^_^
Frog the sweater and knit a lace shawl! That’s what I am doing. The arms/sleeves on the sweater I want to finish keep looking lop-sided. 🙁
=:8
My suggestion… don’t rip back. Continue knitting, and at the end when the hem is still too big, unknit it from the bottom and knit it down. As long as you do it before (thinking from the bottom up) the colorwork, it shouldn’t be any problem.
I know the yarn is now wound into nice little pats, after spinning the yarn winder with zealous vengeance However, I was going to suggest continuing to knit the sweater, as the gauge gods have finally decided you’ve sacrificed enough hair to them. Then, when you’re done, unravel the bottom and re-knit just that section on smaller needles. Or unravel it, bind it off at the right point, pick up in a smaller needle size, and search a Nicky Epstein book for pretty edging.
I don’t know squat about knitting to gauge. Perhaps they prefer coffee as a sacrifice instead of Neo Citran.
Perhaps you could just hot glue some odd balls of yarn to an old sweater and go as “Stash” to Rhinebeck. Freezer Stencil a stash weasel on the hem and watch knitters fall over laughing. Invite people to tack an odd ball to you while you walk about. Knit from the odd balls stuck to your sweater 😉
Congrats on the wedding, Steph! Uh, not-so-congrats on the sweater. 😀
What!? No more kids!? What do we read your blog for if you’re not going to pop out a few more tiny tots?
Oh yeah, the knitting thing… 😉
Have you gotten well enough to watch the season opener of Battlestar Galactica?? Hope you feel better soon…
I have an older friend named Isabel who is very wise and very talented. She swears by her cold cure and uses it everytime she feels a cold coming on, so I thought I’d share her secret cure with you. Are you ready? Here it is:
Whenever you start to feel like you’re catching a cold, that night, just before bed, drink a beer (the whole thing) and then take some vitamin C. Go to bed. Thats it!
She hardly ever comes down with a cold, and when she does she’s almost happy about it LOL! Feel better soon Stephanie.
I agree with some commenters.. flared cuffs are ‘in’.. and you can snip off and knit back..
or you can go on.. and design another pattern as you go..
but I must tell you that I re-read twice.. to laugh twice to your description..and..to understand the math part..love.. patience.. and joy..for the weekend..
At first I thought a Neo Citran was a kind of Canadian car. I had to read way down to discover it was a sedating antihistamine.
The numbers and the math are not so much your friends!
# 11 made me snort coffee …. Oh Stephanie, you make me laugh so much I can’t stand it. Married life (or drugs) must agree with your funny funny twisted mind!!
Even when you’re struggling your still making me laugh…:D
Here’s a glass of wine, sounds like you need it.
Stephanie, hopefully the NeoCitran will cushion what I’m about to say. Ripit, ripit. Or finish and give to a friend with generous hips. My solution to every problem is elastic thread which pulls things in a bit, but I don’t think that’s going to help your sweater.
Nice looooooooooooong nap….
Remember, math is from the dark side!
ohhhh… you have no idea how good his stuff makes me feel… I am living a paralell knitting life….
So sorry you have a cold/flu/sinus/malaria, etc.
Suggestions:
1. Drink a hot toddy (involving very good whiskey, rum, vodka or tequila with citrus something thrown in for the Vitamin C! Oh, and lots of sugar to keep up your energy!)
2. Take a wonderful hot bath with good smelly oils/soaps!
3. Dry your hair! (as my mother told me this is how you get pneumonia…wet hair!)
4. Pick up the sweater and continue to knit…pull the hem out later and knit it down a la EZ! (wasn’t she just WONDERFUL?!?)
Problem solved. Feel better? You’re most welcome!
Throw it across the room and eat some bon-bons, while considering this: of all the projects you’ve created, which was the most extreme (in terms of location, speed or the item itself)? A friend planted an idea in my head a couple of nights ago, and now I have new blog… contributions that top a knitted haggis heartily welcomed! ~x~
Horrifying.
Don’t rip it all out, cut it. Restart the hem (inside) from the color ridge and knit (down)to the hem depth, then (!) connect the hem edge while binding off, thus saving some (dreaded) sewing. This may be redundant to other posts, but I haven’t read the comments yet.
And my heartiest congrats to you, Joe and your family. With love and fondness,
Throw it into the Bermuda Triangle and watch the ocean part to reveal a lost civilization. This story definitely sounds a bit “Twilight Zone”. (p.s. is that Thrum Along still open?)
NO! Not wine. Or Screech or tequila. That might put you in a Really Dangerous Condition, medically. How about a couple of chunks of really good (80%) dark chocolate and a nap? I am worried ’bout ya.
OK, but can I just point out that your nails still look beautiful?!
I recently had similar issues with illusive and inconsistent gauge. After trying three different needle sizes and swatching only to discover variations between my swatch gauge and my gauge after casting on for the real project, I declared that gauge will not rule me and then just continued knitting. Of course, I am making a baby sweater, and the universal rule for baby sweaters is this: the baby will look cute no matter what funny shaped garment you wrap around the darling. I probably wouldn’t have made such an effort to achieve the correct gauge in the first place, but I’m using the yarn called for in the pattern and, in theory, this is supposed to make it easier. Isn’t it?
ummmm…..errrrrr…..I have no idea. I have complete faith in you to figure it out. Feel better soon.
Had to Google neo citran to find out it wasn’t a really cool vodka-based drink. The magic of knitting never fails to amuse. Being a woman of girth, I’ll take the sweater!
I am new to this blog stuff. I want to enter the knitting olympics. How do I do that?
You don’t know squat about knitting? Oh, dear harlot. That obviously means there’s absolutely no hope for the rest of us.
gee.. you just sound like me! except i am completely cough healthy cough when i do this over and over again..
If it makes you feel any better, that manicure still looks great!
See, item 2 said “24 stitches to the inch” and I darned near passed out! I uttered things in several languages about the near god-like knitting skills of the harlot! Thankfully, item 4 clarified – 24 stitches to 4 inches. Whew!
Point 7 – 9 – 110 is one HUNDRED and 5 less than 215, which will reduce it by oh, a TAD more than an inch.
The cold medicine in action, I assume.
Put down the sharp pointy sticks and step away from the knitting, M’am. We wouldn’t want any accidents here.
(what the heck is IN that cold medicine!)
I’d probably just curse at the sweater, throw it in a corner and start a different project. Maybe a pair of socks or something nice and easy until the headache goes away. And if i’m really upset at the sweater, i would start a crocheting or non-knitting project.
I’ll get back to you on that when I quit laughing. I needed a break from my studies. Yep, this did it. Thank you. 🙂
Well, I have an idea, but I don’t know what you will think about it (this is what I would do, since I do this kind of thing a lot)! Since you like where you are now, keep going, and when you finish, you can rip out from the bottom up to where you want your hem to start, pick up the stitches, then knit down for the hem. That way, since you are finally where you want to be, you don’t have to rip out and try again. I do this a lot with sleeves that are too long, sweaters that are too long, etc. (Things rarely turn out the way I think they will.) Good luck!
Congrats on wedding… married in red you rebel you!
On the sweater problem, hey you jsut kept knitting and it fixed itself, maybe the hem will fix it self at some point. Failing that dump the sweater and try fingerkknitting it’s very relaxing.
Oh and honeymoon, how about your publisher pays for you all to come to England, you’ll need the family to look after you and we’d love to meet you. We are buying your books!
Just stop mesuring your gauge. Pretend that your metre is lost, and that you will figure later…
Well, no. Maybe not. But yes, keep going. Why not. You have the right gauge with the right number of stitches. That must be a sign. a good one of course!
darn it.. this year i won’t be able to make the lovely and wonderful rheinbeck.. but we do have an oktober fest.. so i will think of you as i swelter in the 90++ temps.. hee..hee.. hugs.. karola
Neo Citran = Good Drugs!
Oh, Hon! Your first mistake was thinking at all.
But since you’re in the middle of it anyway… run with what’s working and treat the hem like a provisional cast on…
Get better 😎
two more things.. how do i find out where and when tracey will be in my neck of the woods?~! and ugh i forgot again the other question.. my brain is in a downward swing?! ugh .. karola
I can never bring myself to make swatch either – the worst miscalculation was a sweater for a friend(the pattern called for worsted but I had the coolest bulky…) When she held it up, her husband said “Julia knit you a bathrobe??”. My girlfriend then made her Dad put it on (he’s 6 foot 4) and it hung below his knees. I still have the picture and still don’t make swatches. But I’ve solved the problem by knitting the sweater first and then who ever it fits – gets it!
Next time start with a provisional cast on….that way if one side of the hem turns out wonky- you just make it the hidden side. It also means no seaming the hem- I’m too lazy for my own good.
Definately time to do a couple Dulaan hats. You kill two bugs with this plan. You get to ignore the sweater for a while (and we all know it will fix itself while it is being ignored) and you get to accumulate good knitting karma.
If you don’t know squat about knitting, I’m totally screwed…
Give up on the antihistamine and switch to Screech.
Ghod, you knit sweaters the same way I do!
(I’ve learned how to pick up the cast-on row and just rip the little section at the end that’s too many stitches. Or to add more. ‘If you haven’t taken it out and started over at least three times, you’re probably doing it wrong.’)
Hope you’re feeling well enough to enjoy the guacamole tomorrow!
one word.
Wow.
ok. maybe two.
Wow.
I’d take more “cold relief” and call it day. Sending all the blessings and best wishes in hopes you feel much better soon.
I want to report a Utilikilt sighting. On Friday, in a museum near Houston, a man in a khaki utilikilt. I thought of you immediately. I didn’t ask if he knits…
I hope you feel better soon!
HEY….you…the Missus. You are supposed to be finishing your wedding shawl, so the sweater goddess is taunting you.
CURE:
1. Drink Screech.
2. Leave existing needles in place. Rip out brown turning row, change to smaller needles, knit one row, purl one row, decrease st. by 10% evenly distributed around girth of sweater, make interior hem with smaller needles, cast off, sew to inside of sweater.
3. Going back to existing needles, continue upward on sweater with hem already complete. When sweater is finishied, send to me, it will fit just fine!
Option 1: Do the hem separately, cut and kitchner (no really don’t).
Option 2: Put down the sweater and organize your knitting needles instead.
Option 3 (preferred method): Turn up the “hem” and sew it into the under part of the sweater. This will give it a nice finished look assuming it doesn’t bunch up. If you need to have a brown stripe, add another one on top of the new hem and keep going.
By the way I’ve never heard of Neo Citran before. Must be some kind of Canadian allergy medicine. Thank goodness for Google.
This is just an exercise in Zen. You like yoga, yeah? Consider it a meditation and repeat the words of the Buddha: Life is suffering. Substitute “gauge” for “life” and have another cup of tea.
well, you don’t seem like a quitter. it should fit someone someday. hopefully.
perhaps there is a chemical reaction between wool and your medications? that’s the only thing i can figure.
I knitted a sweater for my daughter. She has shortish arms, so I took off a centimetre. I tried it on her, and it was 12 cm too long. So I undid 8 cm – perfect! Who says math doesn’t work!
Paula
Keep knitting (I’m assuming you threw this project in a corner till now). When you’re done, look at the hem again. If it won’t block to the correct size and flat, cut it off, knit down a new hem and/or edging.
I have a theory:
Clearly, gauge is influenced by marital status. Results to be expected in a Godless Heathen Union can no longer be relied upon in a Godless State-Sanctioned Union. Dismiss everything you thought you knew and swatch, swatch again.
Since the only other alternative is blaming the Neo Citran, which I refuse to do since it’s the best drug on the planet, this has got to be it.
Jenn in Winnipeg
I’m sorry, I’m not usually a mean person, but I did laugh out loud when I saw the picture.
I have noticed that different needle brands have a dramatically different idea of needle sizing. Inox runs small; their idea of a size 5, for instance, is barely larger than other brands’ ideas of a size 4. Just like women’s clothing! There must be a vast male conspiracy in here somewhere.
The fact that you know what ‘burning wool’ smells like is kinda scary. ;o)
Everyone’s covered pretty much everything re sweater, gauge, fixes, colds, medicines, home remedies, drinkables, weddings and honeymoons, so I just have this cheery thought to offer:
(No, really – it’s cheery. Promise.)
Powell’s has Knitting Rules! listed smacked-dab on their site’s front page as their #4 best-seller. Considering they sell *everything*, I think that’s quite an accomplishment when you’re feeling as sick as a dog!
Now, just remember: Doctors say with medication, a cold lasts three weeks. Without medication, it lasts 21 days. Just hang in there and get better, you only have another…uhh… Well, that’s math, nevermind, not one of my strong points even w/o a cold. But at least you won’t feel quite so bad towards the last week or so!
SO? Either a book title or a progress report.. or something here;)
Hope you’re feeling much better- knitting and otherwise;)
I have been lurking around your blog for several months and find it amazing! Have never read or been interested in blogs before this – got the address from a doula group actually. I wanted you to know that I got married (the first time) in a knitted wedding dress. Truly! I first saw the pattern when I was about 12 and kept the book until I was married (at 18). My mom and a friend spent 5 months knitting the most beautiful garment I have ever seen. Has a hood and lace sleeves – I would love you to see it. Tell me where and when and I will be there with my dress (pure wool, by the way). I guarantee it will be worth the time.
Kathryn Holder
1. Happy Thanksgiving!! May the tofurkey be well done and the pie delicious.
2. Gauge is a fickle mistress who will not hesitate to lie.
3. Arson is the tricky friend of Gauge. Be careful, the pair could land you in jail for a rather long time… without needles or yarn.
4. Instead, go the mob route – threaten the yarn with a quick dunk in the washer, sink, toilet, whatever. Perhaps put a little horsehead in with the other skeins to let them know you mean business.
Make some Sangria, and keep on knitting. I’m sure it will turn out fine… maybe even better than the original pattern. That’s my remedy for all knitting disasters!
Is it bad that I feel better since your project isn’t going quite as planned? Sorry!
You’ve got enough suggestions for fixing this hem, so here’s a plan to avoid the situation next time. When you just can’t bring yourself to swatch, or when you’re under some sort of influence, start your knitting with a sleeve. You’ll know if your gauge is off sooner, and you won’t have to pull out so much.
I really love that you took your time to write about this. I felt the depth of knitting… very experienced knitter like yourself still suffer the gauge issue… I am a new knitter, sort of Martha type knitter (found out from your book), and I am your huge fan!!!
This won’t really help, given that you somehow managed to change gauges using the same size needle (by the same company? I’ve found distinct differences between companies with stated same sizes . . .) BUT, for the future, you might be interested in knowing that until I read your blog, I had been unaware that the hem needs to be a different gauge than the sweater and have successfully made hems of exactly the same gauge that looked great.
Just a thought. 🙂
Enjoy your antihistamine/wine/screech cocktail!
cool, does this mean that you will be at the sheep and wool show on october 21/22 in rhinebeck, ny?
Thank you for making me feel loads better about the baby hat I accidentally knit the other day.
I laughed so hard because that is exactly how I knit. My mathematic friends generously call it ‘organic.’ I call it, ‘winging it.’
I haven’t been up to anything recently, but so it goes. Such is life. What can I say? Pretty much not much exciting going on to speak of. I haven’t gotten much done lately, but I don’t care.
I just don’t have anything to say right now. I haven’t been up to anything recently, but it’s not important. I’ve just been sitting around waiting for something to happen, but shrug.