the blue blog archives: more is less

The first sleeve and it's - wait for it - too small. It barely fits around my wrist. And I've got small wrists, people. I think I may have gotten confused when I was doing my math as to which size I was working up. Cause the math must be right. It has to be. (If you can't trust math, well, I don't know what you can rely on!) Just in case the yarn could make up for my error, I actually washed this piece. But I didn't see significant growth after drying, so it'll be ripped. I don't know what I was thinking anyway, following the sleeve shaping of the pattern. I like long, straight sleeves, especially for a sweater like this. And if I knit them straight, then there's no way they'll be too narrow at the wrist!

So it's back to the ball winder for more ripping. I'm gonna blame it all on the yarn. I'm enjoying knitting with the Cork so much that, I'll admit it, I keep knitting even when I'm feeling like the piece isn't coming out right. Bad Cork. I mean good Cork. Bad good Cork!

posted by alison at 9:44 am | in cork

Comments

I've totally done that before - "if I just keep knitting, I'm sure it will be ok somehow."

Posted by: Chris at January 5, 2006 10:08 AM

Been there - "if I knit and close my eyes, all will turn out right"...

I have a bag of Cork waiting for a project - I will wait with baited breath to see how this comes out as the lace leaf is on my to do list!

Posted by: stacey at January 5, 2006 10:18 AM

I like how it looks in that guage though it is a nice alteration. I, however, am not a huge fan of bulky yarn sweaters.

Posted by: Jasmine at January 5, 2006 10:54 AM

Ha ha, been there. I do love cork though. Are you redoing the maths...I'd love to see how this sweater turns out in cork...maybe I will try it!

Posted by: Carolyn at January 5, 2006 11:03 AM

Ah, math - mine is never wrong, either. Never. It's the needles that make the errors, never my math. Although my calculator has accused me of being in denial.

Posted by: Susan at January 5, 2006 11:25 AM

Your light blue Cork is pretty. What gauge have you decided on? When I knit my Cork sweater I found the Cork looked and felt best at 4st/1".

Posted by: Maggie at January 5, 2006 12:35 PM

Such a pretty color! All this talk about Cork makes me want to get my hands on some. I "watched" Julia knit up her multi version of this sweater, and was also drooling over it. =)

Posted by: Faith Fiberflash at January 5, 2006 12:52 PM

Well it looks great! I'm realy loving the pattern in that color and yarn. More time with the cork isn't all bad :)

Posted by: Vicki at January 5, 2006 1:40 PM

I'm with you Jasmine. I don't like the weight of the bulky sweaters or the feeling like I'm trapped in some huge straight-jacket. So I tend to avoid bulky yarns. I really liked the Cork though because it is so light and has a squishy feel to it that should keep the sweater from feeling like bulky outerwear.

Maggie, I think I'm getting about 3.75 st/in.

And I'll repeat again for any of you out there how are still thinking that I'm making the WHOLE sweater with just the four balls that I got in my gift pack - no, I bought four extra balls (found them in my LYS, in the same color and dye lot and on sale!). So I'm estimating that it will take 8 to make the sweater.

Posted by: alison at January 5, 2006 2:12 PM

*wince* Oh, yeah, I can relate. Never blame the math. Blame the yarn, blame the distractions, blame (this is my favorite) the tape measure.

Posted by: Colleen at January 5, 2006 2:35 PM

I just finished Salt Peanuts using Cork. Cork is loads of fun to knit with It makes you WANT to make it work with a less than ideal pattern. (I scored mine off ebay. Now if I could only afford it at retail.)

Posted by: erin at January 5, 2006 3:24 PM

Hmmm...I have to agree with Maggie, Cork is much better at a smaller guage. We have a store sample at Webs that we made out of our Shelburne yarn which is SUPER chunky, it's usually knit on a 13 or 15. BUT--the size we made (the smallest) came out considerably smaller than we all expected, and we matched guage. We blamed the model! It looks like a baggy sweater but on a normal body it's actually sort of curve hugging. I think others have mentioned this too, though blog names escape me.

Posted by: Cirilia at January 6, 2006 7:27 AM

Bah. Pardon my awful, persistent misspell of 'gauge'.

Posted by: Cirilia at January 6, 2006 7:30 AM

i can't believe your patience! it'd be in a shoebox under the bed if it were in my house ;)

Posted by: rebecca at January 6, 2006 9:28 AM

I made this sweater and the sleeves were tight. I think the patterns in the books are sized rather small. I used DB cashmerino chunky and it did stretch out once I wore it a little.

Posted by: Connie at January 7, 2006 11:25 PM