No, wait. Before we can talk knitting I must first post an obligatory picture of my children for the Grandparents who visit this site solely for said pictures.
Now that I've got that out of the way we can turn our attention to Evil.
I tried, I really tried to knit this stupid sweater. I knit ribbing, and knit ribbing, and knit ribbing until I wanted to throw The Greatest off a tall building for making me knit so much ribbing. Seventeen inches of ribbing with 310 stitches per row.
Then It was time to split for the front and the back. I wasn't concerned. I'd drawn a schematic. And I'd done the math. I felt fairly confident that I knew what I was doing. So I knit the armscye decreases. No biggie. Feeling more confident I knit the front chest. Then it was time to split the front for the neck. Again I've got a schematic. No biggie. Feeling almost cocky I knit the left side of the neck and even made some shoulder shaping. Didn't I do a nice job?
Now take another look. What's that they say about pride coming before a fall?
Doesn't the neck look kinda deep for a mock turtleneck placement. Yeah, you think so too?
But wait. I had a schematic. A SCHEMATIC for the love of Pete. This should be perfect. I did the math based on my gauge. FREAKIN MATH BASED ON MY GAUGE, MY GAUGE.
Oh, that's right, the math was based on my gauge.
When you put a sweater down for, oh, I don't know, let's say nine months. And then in that nine months you knit, oh, I don't know, 4 adult sweaters, 2 tank top, 1 camisole, 2 baby sweaters, 1 afghan, 1 baby blanket, 1 handbag, 2 shawls, and four pairs of socks (just thinking off the top of my head) your gauge might, just might, oh, I don't know, change a little bit.
Or in this case a lot.
So I've set the dreaded Evil aside once more. Until I figure out what to do. I suggested frogging the entire sweater and beginning once again with a new schematic and math based on the new gauge. The Greatest wouldn't hear of it.
His stance, and I understand this school of thought, is that it has taken me a year to get this far, if I start ripping now he may never get his sweater. And let's face it I don't really want to re-knit 17 inches of 3x2 ribbing.
My stance, and I really understand this school of thought, is that I want him to actually wear this sweater, so maybe I should rip and do it right. Why on earth did I knit 17 inches of 3x2 ribbing if he's not going to wear it?
Does anyone know how a sweater will turn out that has been knit with one gauge on the bottom and an entirely different gauge on the top?
Time to swatch and see if you can get the same gauge now that you were getting then, simply by changing needles... It might save it!! Worth a shot...
ReplyDeleteok just rip the neck. Isn't that a happy medium? Just fix up the neck a bit and it should be perfect.
ReplyDeleteOr keep it as a scoop neck for you and start a new one for him. I hate to see 17 inches of ribbing go swimming!!
Ack! I definitely understand both schools of thought, but I think the ladies above have some excellent ideas to adhere to said schools of thought without losing sanity. Using different needles and ripping just the neckline sound like good compromises. You think changing the name of the sweater might help? You know what they say about self-fulfilling prophecy and all that. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYikes! All that ribbing. I hate swatching, which explains why many of my knits end up searching for the right person to fit;)
ReplyDeletethanks for the pictures. I do look forward to seeing my grandchildren. They ARE beautiful are they not? Maw Maw
ReplyDelete