The Violeta Cowl has been finished, and blocked!
On a side note, I don't know how I would manage without these foam squares.
I can't explain the color change. Or rather, I can, but don't want to.
I told myself a while back that I would not buy any more yarn (yes, we've all said that, right?) I would stash down as much as possible. But my stash, while large, is far too diverse to make any one large project out of. My inability to throw away scraps plus my early-knitting-years-impulse-buying has resulted in an accumulation of single skeins that I really can't do much with. I'd love to knit odds-and-ends for gifts, but I suspect those gifts mean more to me than to the recipient ... some of you likely understand this.
In any case, I find myself wanting to make large projects now. That A-Line Jacket I made a month or so ago was very satisfying, so I spent a pleasant few days going through my pattern library. This is what I want to do next:
It's from a Vogue Knitting 2009. I'm not using the extremely expensive and hard-to-find yarn they used, of course. I wrote down the gauge and then searched for a similar yarn. As I have mentioned a hundred times, I love Cascade yarn, but the gauge was wrong. Patons is a second favorite, and the gauge matched! But there is one problem with the pattern, and that is I am exactly between their M and L size. If not for my bust, I would be a solid M. Now I'm not sure how to handle this, so I'm going to ask my fellow knitters for advice. Should I just knit the L have it loose in the hips, or should I try to alter the gauge to knit the garment between a M and L? And if I do the latter, what am I aiming for? The required gauge is 20/26 per 4". To make a slightly larger size M, should I try to make the gauge 22? I am wretchedly bad at math, and gauge still confuses me. And alas, this pattern is not in Ravelry and the designer seems to have gone dormant.
Another project I purchased yarn for ... a tiny baby sleeveless lacy dress. I forgot to photo-copy the picture (I also forgot to photo-copy both pages for another pattern I liked in the library book these came from). The baby this is for is not due until March, so no hurry.
Well, I am off to make gauge swatches and try to figure out this whole sizing thing. I don't know why designers make patterns with a 4-inch-difference between sizes, but I'm not a designer ... it's probably very complicated!
I bought this at Big Lots thinking Molly would like it. I set it up and Petunia squeezed her bulk in, kneaded happily while purring extra-loud, and then fell into a sound sleep. Molly is currently supervising this blog posting.
Ta-ta!
Gauge works the opposite of what you expect. If you work to a gauge of 22 sts you will end up with a smaller item. So you would have to use the L numbers. If you used the M you would need to knit to a looser gauge, like 18. I would actually knit to gauge with the L numbers through the areas you need the room and then decrease away to the M numbers where you need it. Or if that is too much to figure, change needles going to a smaller needle where you need it to be a M sized.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you stepped in ... I was thinking the complete opposite! I thought 18 st would give me a smaller garment. I just can't picture it in my head. Thanks, Chris!
DeleteChris gave you a great piece of information there. For me, I would just use one size smaller needle and make the medium.
ReplyDeleteI concur with everything you have talked about in this post especially with having what seems like dozens of single skeins of yarn. A couple of years ago I finally started buying larger amounts of worsted yarns seeing as I am interested in making cardigans. I do remember the jumper from Vogue and am looking forward to seeing your progress on it.
ReplyDelete