Kilometers even. I knit red yesterday. A whole bunch of red, and yet, I am no farther along than I was last Wednesday.
First there was the size issue. Right there along with my obsession about running out of yarn for a project, there exists a worry. Did I knit it the right size? Are there enough stitches here to go around me? The plan was to add stitches under the arms between the fronts and the backs to complete the armsyce and the parts looked so small, sitting there unjoined, all curled up along the edges.
Even though I had worked up the numbers, the numbers just couldn't be right, now could they. There was after all, the fact that I am a large woman, and I'd really like this sweater to fit nicely. So I added 6 stitches over and above my calculations on each of the seam edges. I completely ignored that my gauge is 4.75 stitches per inch, that 6 stitches on each of 4 edges meant I was adding 5 inches to the sweater, indeed a whooping 2.5 inches to each arm opening.
When I tried the sweater on, the arms drooped distressingly low. They drooped below my waist. A reknit was in order.
So I stuck to my numbers....Still too much room in the arm. Note to self: Watch for extra large armholes. They really are not needed. Recalculate and reknit.
By this point, I was getting pretty sick and tired of math and red knitting. I stuck with it and knit and knit and knit some more.
I thought about where the few more stitches I needed ought to be. They quite clearly didn't belong at the underarms.
It seems they want to fit along the front edges of the sweater. These few extra stitches I needed are doing just what I wanted
They are making a nice rounded bottom to a simple v neck that is exactly as deep as I wanted the neckline to be. This morning finds me with a sweater that looks like it is going to fit.
Maybe.
Knitting without a pattern, thinking it through as I go on, means reknitting is always one of the possible outcomes. With that possibility always on the horizon, its a darn good thing I like working with this yarn.
1 comment:
It's weird, but if I'm knitting with a pattern and having the troubles you mention, I get very discouraged. But if knitting without a pattern and having those same issues, the ripping and re-knitting isn't nearly so discouraging. Weird. SO far your red looks good.
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