Laura Chau Designs

mishappenings

On the positive side, there are only 28 rounds left in the second sleeve! Rounds knit on this sleeve up to this point: 145.

Now. The not-so-good things.

1) Over the course of the less than TWO WEEKS I have been working on this sweater, I have experienced a dramatic gauge shift. As evidence, the sleeves above – the bottom on is bigger. And it looks a gazillion times better in terms of the even-ness of the colourwork.

2) A problem I didn’t notice until I was taking these photos tonight. This isn’t a great photo (because it wasn’t what I was taking a photo of) but here:

In the plain stripe sections at the bottom and top of the photo, there are two rounds of white, then a round of…pewter? or charcoal?

THEY’RE DIFFERENT!

The charcoal (darker) is correct. The pewter…I don’t know what I was thinking. There are three incorrect stripes like that on the first sleeve, one of which is two rounds down from where I stopped – the armhole, basically. That one’s going to need to be ripped back (at least it’s only 3 rounds) and fixed properly. The others, well, I figure I’ll just leave ’em. There’s so much else going on with the sweater anyway, only I’ll notice at a glance.

Oy. I’ll be in the yoke by tomorrow night, mark my words.

Posted

in

,

by

Laura

Tags:

Comments

8 responses to “mishappenings”

  1. Theresa Avatar
    Theresa

    My Olympic row gauge has been all over the map – I think it’s because I’ve been knitting so much, that sometimes I’m tenser trying to knit fast, other times I’m tired and can’t help knitting looser . . . or something. And now I’m supposed to put in buttonholes?

    Reply
  2. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    I wouldn’t have noticed the color bits unless you pointed them out. As Elizabeth Zimmermann is credited with saying, “If you can’t see the mistake from the back of a galloping horse…”

    My gauge has been utterly wonky on this project, too! I’m suspecting that it usually is, but I haven’t ever paid such close attention. The truly scary thing is that I’m getting row gauge for the first time ever… My stitch gauge is ok, if you take an average of the sleeves (tighter than supposed to be) and the body (looser than supposed to be). Argh.

    Reply
  3. Karma Avatar
    Karma

    I’m with Chris, I wouldn’t have noticed the color change if you hadn’t have shown me. There is so much going on in this amazing pattern that one little row of a slightly different gray won’t be obvious to anyone but you. HOWEVER, if it’s gonna bother you, then you have to do what you have to do.

    Reply
  4. Miss Twiss Avatar
    Miss Twiss

    Wow. I’m bewildered. This is like watching an Olympic event, like skeleton, or aerial ski jump.

    Reply
  5. Jacqui Avatar
    Jacqui

    A couple of simple solutions to your dilema Laura.

    1. It looks like you are pulling your carrying yarn a little tighter in one sleeve. A patchworking tip for you then – you can fix almost anything with a steam iron! Wet a cotton cloth (hankerchief, tea towel) and lay it over your work on the ironing board. Then press – don’t iron! That is, up and down motion, not side to side. Let it cool and it will look much flatter.

    2. If the odd row bothers you, don’t frog it. You can sew over it. That is, thread up the right color in your sewing needle and cover over the stitches – this is used for small sections of picture knitting.

    Hope this helps

    Reply
  6. Julia Avatar
    Julia

    I think you’re coming along great for a challenge of this enormity! The sleeve size…ehh. At least it’s not a fitted sweater, so it doesn’t matter. Maybe you can block them to size? And the stripes…I didn’t even notice! But now that I do, I think they look kind of cool and anarchical being different. I love this sweater!!

    Reply
  7. Lisa Avatar
    Lisa

    In the top picture you don’t even see the color difference. I’m sure that no one will notice. I LOVE those colors together! Gorgeous!

    Reply
  8. Kim Avatar
    Kim

    I am so in awe. No one, but no one, would ever notice the stripes. I can’t wait to see the whole thing!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Theresa Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *