Welcome to Knits Gone Bad. I’m Karen. Glad to meet you. Did the world really need another knitting blog? Maybe not so much, but here I’ll share my enthusiasm for the craft and help other knitters or would-be knitters who might need assistance with knitting math, knitting mistakes, fitting tips or whatever else comes up. [...]
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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? [...] 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? [...] Sweater fitting for boob fairy blessings. Photo courtesy of Terwilliger911 How many of your hand-knitted sweaters have been ruined or stressed out because you’ve been double blessed by the boob fairy? Which sweater fitting mistake keeps tripping you up? Do you make a tent that hides your waist so you have no shape at all? Do you [...] 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. [...] Unfortunately for some of us, how to gauge knitting involves making a nice big gauge swatch. For best results, you bind it off, then wash and dry it as you would your knitted item. When you measure across two or four inches in the middle you discover the exact number of stitches you get per inch. If the very idea of a gauge swatch gives you the willies, you may just cast on in hopes anything close to gauge is good enough. Hello, math fudge. [...] If you’re a knitter who’s math phobic, you have the ruined sweaters to prove it. One was the wrong size, another was the wrong fit, yet another ran out of yarn before completion. Sound familiar? What you need is a math monkey who’ll help you do the math. Or a way to make knitting math simple. [...] 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  
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