I threw in the shawl last night. I gave up. I was so happy that I'd fixed my mistakes in the morning, and much of the afternoon at work I looked forward to coming home, sitting on the back porch (the weather was great again, in the 70s), and working on the lace.
I did that ... and had mistakes in the first row. I spent a lot of time fixing them, and thought I'd succeeded. I had mistakes again in the next pattern row. This just went on, and finally I just gave up and said screw it, I'm just going to "fix" each row's mistakes as I discover them by either making a new stitch, or knitting stitches together, or whatever I have to do to fix the stitch count, and just go on. Maybe in a few rows, with the right stitch count, it'll straighten itself out, and I can just go on from there, albeit with a swatch of completely screwed up lace through it.
But I had given up on un-knitting back to fix these mistakes. When it's every single row, it just got to be ridiculous. At that rate I'd never get more than 2 rows done a night (and possibly have to fix one of them the next morning). No, I didn't put in a lifeline like I said I was going to. Maybe it would have been a good idea, but I know that the way things were going, it might also have just been an extreme source of frustration - continually ripping back to the same place and putting all those stitches back on the needles, only to keep screwing up again over and over would have probably been just as frustrating.
Eventually, a few rows into this new suicide lace-knitting tactic, it got so completely screwed up I knew I couldn't even fix it, and I ripped it all out. Again. I threw everything into the knitting basket, tossed the basket down in the living room, and gave up.
It's very disappointing, because I was really enjoying the process, and I loved the way it was turning out. I just can't figure out what was going so wrong. I mean, obviously I was not following the chart properly, but what's so frustrating is, I thought I was - I was being extra careful, and still screwing it up. And it was always in the same place - Row 38. That's what did me in on my first attempt. (I did check the designer's errata page, just in case - no, it's me).
Apparently the only way I could properly knit lace would be in some type of isolation chamber with absolutely no distractions. But I'm not even sure that would work - it was pretty quiet and non-distracting out on the porch last night.
It's even more disappointing because I just ordered $30 more of the Silky Lace Alpaca, to ensure I had enough to make the shawl (since I'd changed needle size from the original pattern).
I'm thinking about making a light summer cardigan. I wear this one sweater almost year-round, but it's kind of heavy for summer. I thought I'd make something out of a nice sport-weight cotton, and not try to follow a manufactured pattern (as I've never yet had one of those work out either). I thought I'd try my "Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns." You determine your own gauge, then follow a chart-like description of what to knit where, to make a simple sweater (or cardigan). Since row gauge doesn't enter into it, everything lengthwise is done by measuring. Which would work great for me, because row gauge is another place I often get myself into trouble.
I've made two vests from this book, both for my dad. The first one turned out pretty nice. The second one turned out beautiful but way too big - but that was my fault for - again - having a gauge problem. I've been wanting to knit myself a sweater for a long time, but my first two attempts were disastrous (one was ripped out, the other is laying in the back of my closet) - both because of gauge issues.
Geez, it sounds like I don't know how to knit at all. To boost my ego, I'll remind you of this - all of which fit, by the way!
I did that ... and had mistakes in the first row. I spent a lot of time fixing them, and thought I'd succeeded. I had mistakes again in the next pattern row. This just went on, and finally I just gave up and said screw it, I'm just going to "fix" each row's mistakes as I discover them by either making a new stitch, or knitting stitches together, or whatever I have to do to fix the stitch count, and just go on. Maybe in a few rows, with the right stitch count, it'll straighten itself out, and I can just go on from there, albeit with a swatch of completely screwed up lace through it.
But I had given up on un-knitting back to fix these mistakes. When it's every single row, it just got to be ridiculous. At that rate I'd never get more than 2 rows done a night (and possibly have to fix one of them the next morning). No, I didn't put in a lifeline like I said I was going to. Maybe it would have been a good idea, but I know that the way things were going, it might also have just been an extreme source of frustration - continually ripping back to the same place and putting all those stitches back on the needles, only to keep screwing up again over and over would have probably been just as frustrating.
Eventually, a few rows into this new suicide lace-knitting tactic, it got so completely screwed up I knew I couldn't even fix it, and I ripped it all out. Again. I threw everything into the knitting basket, tossed the basket down in the living room, and gave up.
Apparently the only way I could properly knit lace would be in some type of isolation chamber with absolutely no distractions. But I'm not even sure that would work - it was pretty quiet and non-distracting out on the porch last night.
It's even more disappointing because I just ordered $30 more of the Silky Lace Alpaca, to ensure I had enough to make the shawl (since I'd changed needle size from the original pattern).
I'm thinking about making a light summer cardigan. I wear this one sweater almost year-round, but it's kind of heavy for summer. I thought I'd make something out of a nice sport-weight cotton, and not try to follow a manufactured pattern (as I've never yet had one of those work out either). I thought I'd try my "Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns." You determine your own gauge, then follow a chart-like description of what to knit where, to make a simple sweater (or cardigan). Since row gauge doesn't enter into it, everything lengthwise is done by measuring. Which would work great for me, because row gauge is another place I often get myself into trouble.
I've made two vests from this book, both for my dad. The first one turned out pretty nice. The second one turned out beautiful but way too big - but that was my fault for - again - having a gauge problem. I've been wanting to knit myself a sweater for a long time, but my first two attempts were disastrous (one was ripped out, the other is laying in the back of my closet) - both because of gauge issues.
Geez, it sounds like I don't know how to knit at all. To boost my ego, I'll remind you of this - all of which fit, by the way!
Anyway, back to the discussion at hand: the sweater designs in "Handy Book of Sweater Patterns" are simple and plain, in part because that would be the only way to make a book like this, covering so many sizes and gauges, and in part because it's ideal for adding your own patterning to cutomize it for yourself. It's more of a recipe than a pattern. And one lesson I think I have learned - it takes me a far larger piece of knitting than a 6x6 swatch to get a true gauge calculation. When I knit something larger, like a sweater, my gauge always changes as I get further into it and the piece gets bigger. (it doesn't keep on changing indefinitely - at some point, far into the project, it stabilizes - but it's usually quite a ways into it, like half the back of a sweater).
So where all this is going is, my thought is that when the new lace yarn shows up, I'll just return it and exchange it for some cotton yarn. Then I'll knit an actual, very large gauge swatch - like the size of a sweater back. That way I can get a very accurate gauge, and I can experiment with different pattern stitches I might want to try in the sweater, taking the gauge of those sections as well.
If I do all that, I think I have a chance of making a sweater that I have partially designed, that I like, that fits.
Maybe. I thought I could get the lace to work, too.
Although I'll tell you something ... I'm really ticked off about the lace not working out, and I'm not sure I've given up on it yet. I may - may - try it again. I'd only be able to work on it in certain places and times, when I knew I could give it 120% of my attention, but ... I think I want to try it one more time. I hate being bested by some string and sticks.
Addendum: Okay, now I feel really stupid. I just went and did an internet search to see if I could find a knitalong for this shawl, or some posts on one of the Yahoo knitting groups, to see if anyone else was having trouble with this pattern. Au contraire, this is known to be one of the best 'beginner' patterns for lace because it's so "easy." Lovely.
So where all this is going is, my thought is that when the new lace yarn shows up, I'll just return it and exchange it for some cotton yarn. Then I'll knit an actual, very large gauge swatch - like the size of a sweater back. That way I can get a very accurate gauge, and I can experiment with different pattern stitches I might want to try in the sweater, taking the gauge of those sections as well.
If I do all that, I think I have a chance of making a sweater that I have partially designed, that I like, that fits.
Maybe. I thought I could get the lace to work, too.
Although I'll tell you something ... I'm really ticked off about the lace not working out, and I'm not sure I've given up on it yet. I may - may - try it again. I'd only be able to work on it in certain places and times, when I knew I could give it 120% of my attention, but ... I think I want to try it one more time. I hate being bested by some string and sticks.
Addendum: Okay, now I feel really stupid. I just went and did an internet search to see if I could find a knitalong for this shawl, or some posts on one of the Yahoo knitting groups, to see if anyone else was having trouble with this pattern. Au contraire, this is known to be one of the best 'beginner' patterns for lace because it's so "easy." Lovely.
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