Once upon a time a knitter, we’ll call her Karen, started a knitting blog. Yes. Never mind that half a million other knitting blogs already exist. Ahem. She thought she’d help people with their knitting math. Then she talked on and on about her new sweater she’s designing using Elizabeth’s Percentage System. How many knitting mistakes do you see so far? At least three? [...]
|
||||||
|
The best knitters are fine matchmakers. Whether through intuition, luck or skill, they introduce a lovely yarn to an eligible pattern and what happens? Magic! How can you do the same so you never have another ruined sweater come off your needles? Let’s learn some wooing tricks so we avoid another knitting mistake. [...] There are two ways your knitting gauge can be all wrong–the number of stitches per inch and/or the number of rows per inch. Wrong gauge spells disaster for your sweater, no matter how well you knit each stitch. What do you do to fix your gauge so your project isn’t ruined from the get go? [...] There are four possibilities for what to do if you don’t get gauge. If you hate or fear knitting math, you’ve probably already made your sweater anyway even if you didn’t get gauge. And you’ve probably already cried when it didn’t fit. What other options do you have so you can dry your tears? [...] If you fear math, even knitting math, you probably have the unwearable sweaters to prove it. But if you’re a new knitter, and you can’t quite get gauge when you knit your swatch, you may think “close” is good enough. Let’s just see, shall we, how much difference one stitch per inch in gauge makes. [...] How do you wash a sweater that’s a thing of beauty–and not wreck it? You chose a style that does you favors, in a color that makes you glow, knitted it with care so the stitches are beautiful, blocked and seamed it like a pro, your size and fit are spot on, and you love wearing it. Does it fit your lifestyle? What happens when you wash it? What kind of use and care does your sweater want so it doesn’t shrink, stretch, pill or die? [...] How many times have your knitting math mistakes ruined a sweater that you otherwise knit very well? Have you EVER gotten a sweater to fit the way you dreamed while you cast on, knit each stitch, bound off, blocked, and seamed? Couldn’t you just scream? Do you need a brain transplant to make knit fit every time? [...] You can finish off knitting three ways. If you want to bind off or cast off, just knit the first two stitches, insert your left needle into the first stitch you knitted and pull it over the second stitch so the first stitch is wrapped around the neck of the second stitch. Repeat: knit another stitch, pull the other stitch over it. When you reach the last stitch, cut the yarn so you leave a long tail and yank the tail up through the last stitch. If you already know all that but fear you’ll wreck your sweater by mis-weaving in ends, or blocking or seaming it wrong, stay tuned. The third way? Kill it dead. [...] Do you have trouble finding knitting patterns that fit and flatter you? How many sweaters have you made that highlighted a body flaw in the worst way? How many sweaters remain unfinished because the instructions were unclear? If you find a knitting pattern you think you’d like to make, how many ways can it fail you? Let me count the ways. [...] Let’s face it. Knitting takes trial and error. Even experts make knitting mistakes. With the wide variables in yarns, needles, gauges, swatches that can lie, patterns and sizes, what are the chances you’ll end up with a sweater that fits right with the look or feel you imagined? Stop spending good money and time knitting sweaters that fit anyone but you–or no one on this earth. [...] |
Helpful Links
Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Cast On Video Tutorial Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off Photo Tutorial TECHknitting Sweater Knitting Pattern Generator Meg Swansen explains Elizabeth's Percentage System on Math4Knitters podcast Knitmore Girls podcast on ratios #78 Knitmore Girls podcast on sizing, fit and ease Brass Needles podcast Episode 48 with Gail Carriger's segment on sweater sleeves (about 7 minutes in) Brass Needles podcast Episode 49 with Gail Carriger's segment on sweater necklines (almost 9 minutes in) Fabulous Crochet Designer Vashti Braha Start Knitting Socks for Soldiers  
|
||||
|
Copyright © 2010 Knits Gone Bad - All Rights Reserved Posts Feed Comments Feed |
||||||
