Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Plus Ca Change

So I knit both of the On the Easy Side sweaters in the previous post - the Sweet Spot hit reliably at the 40 st point on the sleeves and at that repeat # in the body of the colourful version. On my current sweater it hit at 36 sts on the sleeve - why? I think that it's because I'm using Susan Bates needles instead of the Signature Needles that I used on the other two - my Sigs are being used for China Clouds & I'm loathe to change needles mid-project. Also because of the stiletto tip on the Sigs and my tendency to knit off of the tips I tend to knit tighter on them. I love this sweater so much because of the way the Sweet Spot hits in the body of and shows off the Koigu Kersti so well and that is entirely reliant on the #of sts in the body and I'm doing the M so it's the perfect repeat for a 40st Sweet Spot!!!

So ... I'm already on a 4.5mm (SB)
needle and the gauge/fabric is lovely but I tried going up to a 5mm to see if that would work out - too loose and the patterning was too thin (I'm picky ... it's one of my many lovable quirks). Now it's a matter of adjusting the # of sts on the body to hit a 36st repeat. OMG - this is all of the scratching that I did trying to work that out, in addition to having a calculator almost overheating!! I'm going to blame it on the chemo (I will blame as much on treatment as I can) - my brain is totally addled lately!! I need to keep reminding the kids that it's not just because I'm getting old. I will have 20 extra sts on the body; boy am I glad that I dyed up the extra 2 skeins!!!

You'll see if you look closely (up near the top) where I've joined ball #2 - it's definitely a bit more intense in colour. All the more reason for my sorting out the gradation for a more balanced effect across the sweater. This definitely renews my admiration & appreciation for the indie dyers out there who create & re-create predictably such lovely colourways!! It's also cool that the increases above the Sweet Spot creates a bit of a stripey section then the next increase creates a sort of blocked effect.

I'm well under way for NaKniSweMo (OMG -
you have no idea how many times I have to type that to get it right!!) even/especially with knitting probably half again as much sorting out the needle sizing - I knit a whack with the 4.5mm Sig, then the 5mm SB then ripped it all out and continued with the 4.5mm SB.

I started on the back of China Clouds - it feels so good to be on the last piece - I'm starting with the border again.




Amanda made the basketball team again - when will she get that she's really is good?!?

2 comments:

  1. Yay Amanda! Yay Wanietta! Those sweet spots are soo pretty.

    If the kids think charting a sweater is so easy, give them a try at it. I use multiple pages, both sides, to get the counts right.

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  2. It is absolutely the chemo!! You're gonna be fine, just keep wrinting stuff down.

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