May 02, 2005

Falling short

Sigh. I finished the right front of Soleil and seamed the shoulders...and it just isn't working. I think somehow it has ended up far too large, and I'm not so sure I like the shaping in the pattern. But I am also well aware of the fact that Mother's Day is less than a week away and the number of knitting hours available are ticking away far too quickly. So I am pondering whether or not to scrap this whole thing, or to rip it back to midway through the body to where the shaping started, and start over.

I also have discovered that, for some strange reason, on this project my stitches are rather obviously larger when knitting back and forth than when knitting in the round. The number of stitches per inch across is the same, thank goodness, but I get one less row per inch when knitting side to side. Ouch.

Sigh. Well. If I do end up ripping it back to the midpoint, I suppose I could then make the modifications to the neckline I'd wanted to make - to raise the starting point on the neck up at least an inch, if not higher. I think I can still make this work if I do the neckline decreases on every row instead of every other row...gah. I really thought this was going to be a nice easy project, and for once I wouldn't have to rip out huge chunks and start over (something that has been a common theme in every non-sock project I have ever made). But looks like that just might not be the case.

Off to pick out the seams I just so very carefully created. Grumble. Lets just hope the second time's the charm and the next time I reach seaming status I'm not just as frustrated as I am now.

Posted by Jenipurr at May 2, 2005 09:25 PM
Comments

It's actually not entirely unheard of. Many knitters make different sized knit and purl stitches. Therefore, if you're doing stockinette in the round, where you knit all of the stitches, you'll have a different gauge than if you work the piece flat, so that you're alternating knit and purl rows.

Posted by: Emy at May 2, 2005 11:47 PM

Yeah....and I've seen people mention that to get around this they've used different sized needles - knit with one size; purl the back with the other. Which I'd be willing to try here except that time is getting tight. Heh.

I'll figure something out. Pondering scrapping Soleil entirely and making Spring Fling instead, since it's in pieces and not in the round, and the lace pattern will make any inconsistancies in stitch size irrelevant.

Posted by: Jenipurr at May 3, 2005 06:26 AM

That's one of the tricks with knitted or otherwise handmade presents for someone - they're exponentially more special than something store-bought, but at the same time, making stuff on a deadline is that much more difficult, because you just never know what's going to happen to interrupt the creative process. Oy.

P.S. I'm, um, *proud* to see all of those socks you've been making. ;)

Posted by: Emy at May 3, 2005 05:33 PM