Thursday, July 10, 2008

And here is why Row Gauge Matters...

Well, I'm not yet done with my mittens...but I could have been!

Aren't they looking lovely? The fern motif shaped up nicely - the little color additions on the stem are little bits of yarn from other mittens in the mitten-along. I think it makes them even more special :)

So the question is...are you noticing anything slightly odd by any chance? All I have to say to explain myself is that I was just having a lovely time knitting along, following the chart, while listening to/watching TV (anyone else get sucked into Wipeout?) Next thing I knew it, the mittens were getting kinda tangled each time I flipped em over to knit the other side. Hmm... that's odd - that usually happens when I work on knitting sleeves...or long socks...

uh, yeah. it is fair to say we have a problem. No amount of blocking or felting is going to shorten these babys up. I noticed that my Vs are rather upright and long...rather than being short and squat. I think this is what is to blame for my ridiculous mitten length...or that's as far as my brain can figure it out.


If we look at the interesting side of the mittens, you can see approximately where my index finger ends. I'm trying now to figure out what the best path forward is - seeing as it's not quite at the beginning of that part of the motif, I wasn't sure if I should rip that entire "frond" back or how best to proceed. As it is, if I rip it completely out, I think I'm going to have to drop back some stitches (and pick them back up again) to adjust the colorwork on the 2 lower fronds...either that or I'm going to be doomed to rip clear all the way back to just above the snails. If that happens, I think I might cry. Then again, I've been really enjoying the knitting, so knitting it twice may not be that bad ;) This would be one of the downfalls of knitting your mittens (or socks or sleeves both at the same time ;) ) The good thing with the shetland wool is I don' t think it's going to be too traumatic to rip back - the wool is rather grippy, so I would expect that it will leave the happy little active stitches sticking straight up waiting to slide back onto the needles!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, sweetie. That sucks! But you've made huge progress in literally days so hopefully it won't be too traumatic.

Luscious Gracious said...

I say felt them, and not just because that is my answer to everything. Felting shrinks a lot more length-wise than width-wise. You can stick your hands in them while they are wet to get them the right width. Of course they may become too small around and still too long, so it is risky. Maybe play it safe, pick them back to the snails & let me take 2nd place!

Anonymous said...

Don't you know anyone with extra long slender hands? :) They look so lovely, it is a shame to rip them and give up the second place too!

Nikki said...

I'm so sorry! Those are some crazy long (and beautiful) mittens :)