by guess and by golly

Note to self:  write.it.down!

The body of Passel is on the blocking board and I have started the first sleeve. 

The entire process of getting this sweater pinned might have been easier, taken less time, and caused far less anxiety in the knitter if a few notes had been taken at the beginning of the project. 

I know I knitted a gauge swatch.  I know that my stitch gauge was correct.  Apparently my row gauge was not as the sweater I ended up with is longer than the one described in the pattern.  Since I have no idea what I did with that swatch, and I neglected to make any notes, there was a moment of profound frustration where I was ready to just slap the sweater down, let it dry, unravel it all, and put it aside until next spring.  Luckily I regained my senses and calmly figured things out.

As I said, apparently my row gauge was off, I am getting fewer rows per inch than the pattern.  This is not unusual for me.  I knit loosely and tend to get long skinny stitches. As I pinned the sweater I vaguely began to recall that I thought that my gauge was off just enough so that if I knit the pattern as written, I would end up with a length that would be better for my tall frame, i.e. 24 inches instead of 21 inches.  Apparently that was the case as the sweater pinned out to 24 inches and all the pieces line up and match (one point for the knitter).  I would have been happier if I had written this down though, and perhaps even done a few calculations (my actual gauge times number of rows in the sweater to confirm that I would get the desired length).  If I did do any math I don't remember it and I certainly didn't write it down. 

And I had been so much better about these little details up until this point.

Of course now I have to figure out how many rows per inch I am getting because I will have to alter the sleeve pattern.  I may be tall, but I am not blessed with long arms and legs and I often have to shorten sweater sleeves.  Well I don't often have to shorten Anny Blatt patterns, but I don't have to lengthen them either, and if I knit the sleeves as written but I am getting fewer than the 10 rows/inch stated in the pattern, I will have sleeves that are much too long.

Now I have to spend time doing math.  It's not that the math is difficult, it's just that I hate to have to do it in the middle of a project.  My own fault for not doing the prep work.

Well, with knitting group tonight, a bunch of waiting-room time scheduled tomorrow, and the US Open to watch, there appears to be ample knitting time on the horizon.  Hopefully I will make short work of those sleeves once I get the math done because although I might have knitted the body with a "by guess and by golly" plan, I don't intend to use that technique for the sleeves.

Comments

[Gina]

I'm terrible about checking my row gauge, and I know it's only a matter of time before that comes back to bite me. At least you realized in advance of knitting one (or both!) that the sleeves would require some math.