Sunday, February 20, 2005

My Gauge Swatch Lied

I've made up my mind to get past this irrational fear of socks. I can knit on dpns. I can blindly follow the directions and come out with what looks like a heel. What I can't seem to do is knit a sock that'll fit the foot it was intended for.

Yesterday, I tried to do things right. I swatched, and even stranded the yarn across the back so that it would be accurate. Happy that I was getting five stitches an inch, I cast on and started knitting a cuff. After the first couple of inches, it was looking way too big, so I measured my gauge again and it was four stitches an inch. How?! I'm determined to figure this out. Just not today.

Today, I pulled out CardiOrNot, and finished the front sections. It looks like I got the interlocking thingie right after all, and the shaping went easier than I expected it to. All that's left now is the sleeves, which I know I can do, and the finishing, which I'm not as confident about. But as long as the pieces are all done, I can say I used the yarn.

Oh, and Alex's poncho is done. She's been wearing it ever since.

2 comments:

Wendy said...

Hi Michelle,
Is your gauge swatch done in flat knitting? There are differences in the firmness and tension of the loops between flat and circular knitting, usually the differences are negligible, but with the right yarn or with some knitters they can be downright glaring. Hope this helps.

Michelle said...

I followed instructions I saw on the knitlist that said to knit, then slide the stitches to the other end of the needle so that all of the rows were knit rows. I was careful (for once) to leave the strands on the back loose and do everything the "right" way. Which is why I'm so annoyed that the swatch was so wrong!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails