syntaxoflife
sunbeamj
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Because of my firm belief that school is trying to kill me, last night I sat down and knit with wild abandon. Not for a finished object, normally my modus operandi, but because I needed to feel the yarn between my fingers. And at least something would progress. Because I didn’t have suitable sock yarn to cast on for yet more socks, I decided to do a few swatches.
Can you see that? My gauge for Icewine is supposed to be 7.5 stitches per inch on worsted weight yarn. That’s with 2.75mm needles. I barely have 6sts/in. Not gonna work. How do people knit worsted weight yarn so tightly? This yarn, Brown Sheep Nature Spun worsted, is also very very compact, which probably has a lot to do with its not knitting down well.
So I went down to 2.25mm needles (gulp – I feel like I’m going to break them) and tried to knit a “corrugated cuff”:
Do you see that? DO YOU SEE THAT? It’s at least an inch, maybe an inch and a half too big. To the frog pond that idea goes.
I still want to knit two-color mittens with this yarn but I need a pattern that doesn’t call for 7.5sts/in with worsted weight yarn. I just can’t do that with this yarn. And I need new mittens this winter. I hope I can find a pattern, easily available, cheap or free… otherwise I guess I really have to improvise something. That’s a scary thought to me. I can improvise sock patterns because I’ve knitted enough socks, but I’ve only ever knitted two pairs of mittens and those were a combination of mittens and gloves, where the mitten part flips off so you can use your fingers. I don’t have a lot of mitten experience so I really don’t want to improvise something yet.
So not sure what to do about that yet. But hey, let’s look on the bright side:
Size six knitting needles seem to be pretty much exactly the size I want for my lime green yarn to turn into a shawl. I bought a 24″ circular today. I’m gonna knit a lace shawl! Me! How scary and exciting!
Tags: colourwork, lace, mittens, shawl
I’m starting to enjoy working swatches for the just the reason you cite – that its a no pressure way to just enjoy that yarn though the fingers sensation (while getting something done at the same time!) Good luck with the pattern search!
What about Matrix from Knitty (http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter07/PATTmatrix.html)? The gauge looks much more reasonable and it calls for worsted weight. I have the book Folk Mittens, and I love a lot of the designs in there, except that the author calls for “worsted weight” yarn, but then the gauge looks like you’d need fingering or sport weight for most of them. I know 2-color knitting usually gives you a tighter gauge, but still. There’s a range, you know?
Oh no! Gauge is the worst. Hope you find a mitten solution soon … and good luck with the shawl! (It’s not nearly as hard as it sounds.)
Ah, I know I am horrible really but… I am trying something so I need a current mailing address! Yes, I really am going to mail that thing and I think it even has a mitten design. Certainly a hat and scarf thing. Anyway, yeah. Oh and gonna send you a letter enclosed too. Sure I could email but I am trying to do something (!!).
Heh heh, I still love them socks, you know.