Knitting Olympics Day 11: Everything's Tiny Except my Giant Balls
Feb 22, 2010 by rilla
If this were a seven minute Olympic Story used as filler between events, the pitch would be something like this: Our Knitting Olympian today is Rilla, who believed that she could compete and win without checking her gauge and reading instructions properly. Will she finish, and what will the finished products actually look like? Will the sweater be big enough to fit a barbie? a Cabbage Patch Kid? We'll have to watch this competitor closely to see just how screwed up things will get.
The blanket is going along so well, that I'm almost done it. See all that wool there? That's practically two whole balls of wool. That's supposed to be in the blanket, making itself into the blanket through the clickity clicks of my needles. Why is it all rolled up so nicely sitting outside of it then? I DON'T KNOW. According to my pattern, I've got seven more repetitions of eight rows to do. Each section of eight is approximately an inch of the blanket, so we're looking at a blanket that will be seven inches longer than this when it comes across the finish line.
To give you an example of the scale, here's Starbuck making herself useful. This is the solution as I can see it. I just keep knitting. I just keep repeating my pattern until I get through more of those giant balls. I recognize that what I'm going to have here will resemble a flag more than a blanket. It will be a lovely rectangle, not a cozy square, but it's too late. It's just too late to make it anything else.
As for the sweater, well, that's a whole other sad story of incompetence. I have these really small circular needles that I thought would work for the bulk of the sweater work. I looked at how many stitches I needed to cast on and thought I'd be fine. I didn't read through to the repeated increases over and over and over again, so that roughly eight rows in, I can't keep the thing on the needles anymore. There's no way to knit through this problem, I can't just keep going and see what will happen. I've got to go to the Wool Emporium and say, "I NEED TO FINISH THIS BEFORE THE OLYMPICS ARE OVER AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT SIZE OF NEEDLES THESE ARE." Yes. That's right. I didn't even know what size of needles I had when I started casting on. So, I'm hoping that the lovely Wool Emporium ladies will know what the fuck to do, because I'm at a complete loss.
The blanket is going along so well, that I'm almost done it. See all that wool there? That's practically two whole balls of wool. That's supposed to be in the blanket, making itself into the blanket through the clickity clicks of my needles. Why is it all rolled up so nicely sitting outside of it then? I DON'T KNOW. According to my pattern, I've got seven more repetitions of eight rows to do. Each section of eight is approximately an inch of the blanket, so we're looking at a blanket that will be seven inches longer than this when it comes across the finish line.
To give you an example of the scale, here's Starbuck making herself useful. This is the solution as I can see it. I just keep knitting. I just keep repeating my pattern until I get through more of those giant balls. I recognize that what I'm going to have here will resemble a flag more than a blanket. It will be a lovely rectangle, not a cozy square, but it's too late. It's just too late to make it anything else.
As for the sweater, well, that's a whole other sad story of incompetence. I have these really small circular needles that I thought would work for the bulk of the sweater work. I looked at how many stitches I needed to cast on and thought I'd be fine. I didn't read through to the repeated increases over and over and over again, so that roughly eight rows in, I can't keep the thing on the needles anymore. There's no way to knit through this problem, I can't just keep going and see what will happen. I've got to go to the Wool Emporium and say, "I NEED TO FINISH THIS BEFORE THE OLYMPICS ARE OVER AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT SIZE OF NEEDLES THESE ARE." Yes. That's right. I didn't even know what size of needles I had when I started casting on. So, I'm hoping that the lovely Wool Emporium ladies will know what the fuck to do, because I'm at a complete loss.
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Go Rilla go!
You don't have to use all of the green yarn in the blanket. Patterns written by pattern companies frequently LIE about the amount of yarn needed, because they are not exactly disinterested advisors when it comes to you buying their product. Plus you can't buy half a ball of yarn, so they seem to always round up and add one when they estimate yarn amounts.
Except when they don't. But that's another long and sad story.
Anyway, stop when the blanket's the size you want. Save the leftovers. Make a hat with them. Hoard them and pet them furtively. Thus are stashes born.
About the sweater, yup, you need a longer needle. When you're at the yarn shop buying it, you should also get an essential device called a needle gauge because no-one can tell the size of a circular needle without one.
Go Rilla go!
Amy: I was hoping you'd read this and tell me what I needed to do about figuring out the size of the round knitting needles. I'm heading to the Wool Emporium tomorrow. I'll say "hi" for you :)