Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Don't Drink and Steek

I love Kate Gilbert's designs. Let me clarify that: I love her designs, but I do not, at least so far, love actually knitting them. I bought yarn intending to knit the Sunrise Circle Jacket, but stalled when faced with the NINE PAGES of line by line written instructions. But when I saw the irresistably cute Pea Pod Baby set, I had to knit it. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to test my theory that I Hate Seaming. This theory was formulated early on in my knitting career, so I wasn't sure if I Really Hated Seaming, or if I hated it because I was Inexperienced and Didn't Know What I Was Doing. I found some acceptable yarn (Debbie Bliss Rialto) in a fabulous color (green, what else?) and commenced knitting this bottom up sweater with sewn in sleeves. Twice. Both because of my own errors. The first time I knit it, I accidentally did an extra repeat on the lace pattern which left me with longer body section than I had intended.

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Which was fine, except that I had already knit the sleeves separately, and didn't make any mistakes, so I had a big body and tiny little sleeves. Here's where I decide to make lemons into lemonade. I thought, "Hey, let's just make two sweaters! And this time, LEARN TO COUNT." And here's the strange thing: I used the same yarn, same needles and actually counted correctly, and look what I got.

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Two sweaters, the same size. The one on the right is smaller by maybe an inch. To make matters worse, now the small sleeves won't fit into the smaller sweater. What now? MORE LEMONADE, OF COURSE! "Even though I have no experience steeking, I'm going to do it! Yes! How hard can it be?" (DISCLAIMER) My judgement might have been affected by the glass of wine I had earlier in the evening. How did it go, you ask?

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Tres horrible. What a surprise.

Here is the ultimate fate of the yarn.

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Speed Racer needed a scarf, anyway. Oh, and it turns out I Really Do Hate Seaming.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

O.M.G, I could cry. Seriously, I would have cried.

Melissa @ Banana Migraine said...

Oh no!! I would have screamed and then cried.

Dani said...

I'm thinking I'd have a drink before steeking too. I'm impressed that you reballed it. I would have thown it out in a fit of rage.

Gina said...

Well, it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. I figured I already had a larger one, so it wasn't like I'd be left with nothing. I couldn't fix it, and I certainly didn't want to put it aside "for later" and still be looking at it three years down the road. I had made so many mistakes anyway: I put in a "lifeline" that was too thick and left an indentation in the fabric even after blocking it, I miscounted one of the buttonhole rows, and forgot a YO on the first leaf. Honestly, the yarn deserved by right to be unravelled. LOL In any case, it will make a lovely hat and maybe a pair of booties. It was such a small project that it didn't feel part of my yet.