ok...so I decide to cast on for the bag to break up the sock knitting....
Lion Suede is a different gauge than Berroco Suede, so I do a swatch in the stitch pattern, do some calcumacating and voila! I have a number of stitches to cast on.
Cast on and happily knit away.....get it about 5inches long and step back a bit to check out my handiwork. GAH. It looks a bit small. Out comes the measuring tape. Um....5 inches too small. GAHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Rrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiippppppppppp....
Next night...another swatch is done...more calcumacating is performed...I come up with another number....hmmmm...I think to myself...I think I did something wrong. I don't think it'll be big enough. So I measure the swatch again, calcumacate again...oooh...I must have made an error...I'll need MORE stitches.
Cast on and happily knit away...get it about 5inches along, step back and admire my calcumacating abilities. OOOH. Wait a minute...this looks a bit too big. Out comes the measuring tape. Um...10 inches too big.
Sigh. Now comes the pleading and begging bit.... I measured wrong, right? If I measure again and again and maybe even again, I'll get the measurements I was going for in the first place, right? Right? RIGHT?
Ummm....WRONG...and that would be NO. Away goes the knitting.
Next night...OK...I can fix this...reduce stitches down to a resonable size? ...only have about 7 more inches of knitting to do....I'll need to decrease about 50 or so stitches. Good grief, it'll look ridiculous by the time I'm done.
OK...think...think...think... OOOH. I know! Since I can't calcumacate worth shit, I'll measure out how much bag I really need and count up the stitches. Need a multiple of 3 for the stitch pattern... Oooh...lookee! 135 stitches. Perfect.
BIG, HEAVY, SIGH...RRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPP
Yesterday morning as my hair was cooking (I colored it.) - Happily cast on 135 stitches (first attempt was 102 stitches, second was 180 stitches, yeah, I know, you think I would have at least been suspicious), start knitting away....first pattern row....I'm 3 stitches short. Gah...it's not a multiple of 3...it's a multiple of 6! DORK ALERT! Knit the last few stitches plain.
Heave a HUGE sigh and go rinse out the color from my hair.
Rinse...rinse...rinse...I REFUSE TO RIP IT BACK AGAIN AND CAST ON AGAIN!!!! ARGHHHHHHHHH
Oooh...Look...no grey hairs!
Ok...feel better. Anywho....add 3 stitches in the plain knit row that is next...next pattern row...perfect! YAY!
Last night....Knit, knit, knitting away...get to about 5inches (for the 3rd time), step back and go...OOOOH...this looks just about right. Out comes the measuring tape...just a wee bit shy of 20 inches. 20 inches is perfect, but what I've got is perfectly close enough for me.
Later tonight, I will knit some more on Honey's socks and then continue to knit on my perfect bag. hee hee. Funny part is...remember when I said I did those calculations again and thought...hmmm...don't think that's big enough I'll add more?
Yeah...it's the same number I ended up with...
First one was too small...second one was too big...last one is juuuuuuuust riiiiiiiight... I feel like freakin' Goldilocks.
Lessons learned? Plenty...
Don't calcumacate past 10pm.
Don't try to calcumacate with grey hairs...they really mess up your brain.
Don't doubt yourself.
Use yarn that's a similar weight in the first place, then you won't have to go thru any calcumacations at all!
Better yet, have someone else do it for you!!!!
You make me feel so much better about having ripped back the shoulders/yoke of my February Lady Sweater before I finally got it right (kind of. ish.). You'd think that somewhere along the way I'd have picked up on how to count...
ReplyDeleteI was doing a little ripping myself yesterday morning. I figured it was only one evening of work anyway, so better do it now, then hate the FO. But then I also decided to de-ball my doubled up yarn, and put it back into 2 balls. PAIN IN MY ASS! It had twisted itself up into one lovely fiber already. Got that done and didn't want to look at that yarn anymore. I opted to put that project down and start on one that is actually needed for the holidays.
ReplyDeleteGEEZ! Maybe this is why I put the knitting down earlier this year.
I can't wait to see your new fancy bag. I really like the stitch pattern.