Monday, November 13, 2006

I need to be more tense.

My gauge always seems to loosen, anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 spi (a lot!), when I knit a garment vs knitting a swatch, even a large swatch. This is probably partly because I tend to knit while walking (and then the weight of the knitted material hangs down, but I think partly I'm just too loose. I often use two sizes down from the needle specified, and still —

Well, so I finished Leland, but he's 48" rather than 44". Here he is pre-blocking and pre-buttons:



It's still wearable, but it isn't the tailored office sweater I'd imagined.

Blocking this was interesting. I washed it, because, as noted previously, there was kind of waxy coating on the yarn that made it stiff and scratchy. Is this spinning oil? Does anyone know? Because sometimes Webs sells cones "still in spinning oil". It felt more like wax than oil, but what do I know? All I can tell you is I did five, FIVE washes in Eucalan, and the first three turned the water an absolutely opaque brown.
(The last two were just kind of tea-colored.)

Anyway, it's softer now, but not quite dry (I finished the sweater on Saturday), so you'll get more pictures tomorrow or Weds. Pattern: Sienna from IK, US #7 Boye circs, Brora Softspun in color #9079 (closeout from Webs).

Thanks to April's inspiration, I went back to my Streaming Leaves scarf after I finished Leland. I figured out where I had been stuck (just thought I was on line 44 when I was actually on line 42 — not a huge deal in the end!), and finished another 1.5 repeats of the pattern. 2 to go!



Hmm. Notice my gauge has loosened up as I restarted? Argh! MUST GET MORE TENSE!!!

7 comments:

Johanna said...

You knit while walking? Now that sounds just dangerous. I can talk, watch TV and even read while knitting, but I wouldnt want to impale myself im my needles because I didn't see a step!

Great cardi by the way, but I especially like that blue lacy thing. Very pretty.

sheep#100 said...

I'll send you some of my sock-knitting tension!

I knit socks very tightly by deisgn.

Jen said...

Ooh, streaming leaves is pretty!

I know some oils can get waxy feeling when they age, but I can't even guess what's up with the yarn in Leland. Sounds like plenty of washing is taking care of it, though.

jae said...

Ohhhh cant wait to see Leland all finished. I guess the increased size means you can wear more layers under it right?

Sarah-potterknitter said...

I knit really loose too, usually not a problem, I just go down two sizes. For socks it's been a problem lately. I'm trying to do some of the patterns I've seen floating around, but size 0 needles, comeon. I just froged a couple of Jaywalker toes, for several reasons, but mainly got tired of the toothpicks I was knitting with. At least that one I can decrease the number of stitches.

April said...

Ooo, Leland is gorgeous!

And I'm so glad you're back with the Streaming Leaves, it's such a wonderful pattern. I'm already eyeballing my stash for yarn to make another one.

Anonymous said...

sounds like you should take up more sock knitting for your walk-n-knit! how much do you think the uneven tension will block out with the scarf? (i've never knit lace to know...)