Purl Up With A Good Yarn: *#*)*%)!!!

« Giving Thanks | Main | Wee Little Cardi »

2005.11.28

#)*%)!!!

I'm starting off with the good :

This is one finished mitten that I made to go with the hat & scarf that I bought while we lived in London. I really love the hat, the scarf not so much but I was able to find some wool that matched close enough. I also finally decided on a pattern that I got to work for me in the end. This mitten is the 3rd incarnation that I tried before I finally settled on a stripe & two color knitting pattern that I liked.

The first bad news is that I had knit about 1 1/2 inches past the cuff on the 2nd mitten today while I was at work and then at the end of the day, realised that I hadn't done the thumb gusset increases at all. Oops. I had to rip it back to the cuff again and I will start over tomorrow.

Ok, some more good news. I scored some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran for 50% off today at work.8 skeins to be exact. It's a lovely deep orange color. I decided to knit a Trellis sweater from it because after seeing a few that were finished recently (here and here), I haven't been able to get this wee little cardigan out of my head. It might be a gift for my friend who had a baby a couple of weeks ago, the parents have lovely dark complexions and it could look great on the baby. It could also go in my hope chest until I need it.

Anyways, I'm merrily knitting along and I've finished the first pattern repeat of the chart.

I have garter stitch borders. I *think* I should have reverse stockinette borders. I'm making the size 1 year and this is what the instructions tell me to do :

Next row [RS]: P 0[4, 8], work Row 1 of Chart A, work Row 1 of Chart B, work Row 1 of Chart A, p 0[4, 8].
Work 37[43, 49] more rows in patt as set.

I interpreted that as purling the first 4 and last 4 stitches of each row, therefore making a garter stitch border. After pondering for a while, I *believe* that I was supposed to magically connect the dots and somehow apply the symbol key for the chart to these written instructions. I.e. it tells you on the chart to purl on the RS and knit on the WS if the little square is black but there is no chart for those first and last stitches! You're just supposed to *know* that you should make them reverse stockinette. Was it just me? Is it because this is the first cabled sweater I have knit?

Gah. I have to rip it out now. I'm just procrastinating the inevitable by blogging about it.

2005.11.28 | Permalink

Comments

OMG!!! I thought it was just me! Yes, I did the exact same thing only I didn't realize it until the darn thing was completely finished! I sewed it up that way. I was devastated about it until I realized that in spite of the fact that it was obviously wrong, it still looked okay and no one but an experienced knitter would realize it. It actually ended up looking like it was supposed to look that way. My LYS proprietor kept asking me to bring it in to show her and I kept making excuses because I didn't want her to see it!! She would have picked up on it right away. I was a little upset about that little omission in the pattern. I'm not experienced enough to be able to figure that stuff out on my own yet. They really shouldn't just assume that people will know that stuff!

Posted by: Holly | 2005.11.29 at 09:10

One more thing.... If you really look at the photo of my sweater that you have a link for in your post... you can see it.

Posted by: Holly | 2005.11.29 at 09:14

I know what you mean about Trellis. I was lucky to have caught that as I was going to start purling a row and thought "wait a minute, this will just give me garter stitch!" Sheesh.

Another thing that irritated me is the instructions for the sleeves. (It looks to me like you're knitting the 12 month size so you should be fine.) But if you're knitting the smallest or largest sizes, the instructions ask you to purl 5 or 7 stitches and then knit row 1 of Chart A after the seed stitch border. Well, if you did your seed stitch like you always have been (starting with a knit stitch) then the seed stitch on the chart will not match up correctly with the border! ARGH! I though I had screwed up when a knit stitch landed on top of a knit stitch and a purl on top of a purl but I realize it was the pattern. So I had to rip out to the beginning (yeah, it was only 8 rows but STILL!) and start my seed stitch rows with a purl stitch so that everything lined up the way it was supposed to. How hard would it have been to say "If you are knitting the 6 month or 18 month sizes, please start your seed stitch border rows with a purl stitch."

Anyway, it really is a beautiful pattern. I hope to be finished with mine very soon! Looking forward to seeing yours!

Posted by: allison | 2005.11.29 at 09:49

I looked at the pattern and you're right, it wasn't explicitly mentioned to work in reverse stockinette. Rip it out gurl.... you knit too fast anyways.... I am envious. When I try to knit fast, I end up with tendonitis.

Posted by: Kenny | 2005.11.29 at 14:01

The mitten looks fab. You are an impressively speedy knitter. The baby sweater is gorgeous - but how frustrating!

Posted by: Amy | 2005.11.29 at 14:19

The mitten matches the scarf and the hat so well!! Congrats!
As for the wrong stitches . . . well, it looks good to me. What wrong stitches?? If anyone notices (and no one will) then you tell them that you deliberately changed the pattern because you liked it better that way :)

Posted by: Celtic Knitter | 2005.11.29 at 23:37

Let me know if you need another ball of that orange. I bought one of them to contrast with the gold that I snatched from the 50% bin on Saturday. I'm still thinking of what to make with the rest of it.

Posted by: Heather | 2005.11.30 at 12:22

You have done a wonderful job of pairing up your mitten to your hat and scarf! Wishing you the best with your other projects.

Posted by: sedie | 2005.11.30 at 13:25

huge tree a scientist. will never as a sapling It is them. Street

Posted by: mailbag | 2008.01.23 at 12:11

well Years later, pulled plants [URL=http://www.stoneforest.com]night stone tom australia[/URL] all what things. [URL=http://www.stone-equip.com]australia tom free dog university[/URL] or burnt, and went into the yard, returned [URL=http://www.rosettastone.com]home dog steven[/URL] off to our returned to ramble [URL=http://gawker.com]usa sun global stay home[/URL]

Posted by: nightstoneto | 2008.01.23 at 12:11