Skip to main content

Work in progress Wednesday - the thing about row gauge

I don't worry too much about my row gauge. particularity in a pattern like Strathendrick, where the instructions say to "knit to xx cms". So when I swatched I looked a stitch gauge and whether I liked the fabric. After I started knitting I realised that the final row, which goes all the way across the shoulders, would end in a random spot unless I did some planning.

Kate Davies appears to have ended at a random spot in the repeat, but I know I want it to end on a row 17 or 34 - the yellow rows.

So I did the maths and worked it out. While I was there, I though to check the size of the arm. the smallest size, which I am knitting, leads to a 25 cm arm at the elbow. If I haven't mentioned it in the last 5 minutes - I do crossfit:

Those arms are not going to squeeze down to 25cm. So I  did more maths - it's not very tricky, just making the pre armscyth part shorter, and the chest but longer, to make the sleeve opening wider. So I'm knitting the length measurements for the second largest size for the top bit, but keeping the width of the smallest size, and hopefully I will end on a row 34. With all of this tinkering I've worked out my final jumper will be four centimeters shorter than the pattern calls for. That's not a lot and I am very short, so that works - although we'll see what actually happens, given that gauge swatches lie at the best of times, and this is quite a massive piece of knitting.  



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Geogradiant MKAL Part 1 - that was unexpected (spoilers)

Stephen West released the first MKAL clue on Thursday night. I started knitting it without looking at spoilers. When I got up on Friday he had sent through an "alternative" clue one. I then went and had a look at the spoiler thread to try to work out what was going on. Which was that some people thought the pattern looked like a "German hate symbol". I knit on anyway, since I was half-way through. Then he took down the original clue, replacing it with a mitred square in garter stitch. The Ravelry forums and Instagram are a complete shit-show, even though Rav is being moderated. It's been a bit disheartening, having something that is usually quite light and fun weighed down with all this. I admire Stephen's quick and sensitive response to this drama. I also feel that anything can look like anything if you squint. To me this looks like a Celtic knot. I think mine is pretty, and I'll knit on through all crises. 

Linky Wednesday - the one with the drama

The drama about the Stephen West MKAL  continues, and I can't be bothered with it. It's meant to be a fun, interesting, communal knit and and that's not what this year has turned in to. Stephen has done his best in a difficult situation, but I'm just not feeling it. Meanwhile, Israel is at war, and we (as a country) are going to vote "no" on a referendum that asks for basic consideration for Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders.  So yeah, lots of turmoil here. It's very tiring. I'm knitting a sock and considering what happens next.  Luckily the reading was dramatic in a good way. I'm reading a NetGalley review copy of Last Summer at the Lake House and it's great.  Super dramatic family drama about three sisters who loose their father unexpectedly and then find out that the family has secrets. I 've nearly finished it and I don't know what I'm going  to read next. I've got a bit of a break between review books, so maybe Sta

Mussleburgh musings

I made a Mussleburgh hat earlier in the year, and even though I thought I was following the directions exactly it did not come out quite right.  It was a little bit loose. My head is 51 cm, my gauge was 7 stitches, so according to the pattern I knit the right size. It's also a little bit shorter than I would like it. Too long for a beanie, too short for a good turn-up. I couldn't work out why. I still wore it, but it was not quite right. When I decided to knit one for Elise I knew I wanted to make it longer, and tighter. After I finished Elise's (with 24 fewer stitches) I realised something about mine: Now, this is a knit tube. I know how to knit tubes. When I make sleeves or socks, they don't balloon out in the middle. So I decided to reblock it. The instructions actually specifically say to fold it inside each other after blocking, but I probably folded it and dried it on my head, because that's how I block my hats. Not this time: Now it's longer and thinner