Y'all know I am just like that.
"Crazy."
Let's pause and reflect for a moment on my gargantuan project-of-late, the gorgeous (I mean the PATTERN, mine is a little more homely) Twist Cardigan.
(happy music begins)
I knitted allll the pieces.
I seamed it together, sometimes with frightening abandon.
I picked up the right number of stitches for the button bands, and knitted 'em right up.
I picked up for the collar.
I sewed on three buttons.
I knitted some of the collar.
I tried it on.
(record comes to screeching, needle-torturing halt)
I don't know how to break this to you. Or even to myself. I was writing weepy emails to Betty last night and didn't even know what I was talking about. (Sorry, Betty!)
The problem, or what I am really talking about is a particular form of knitting sickness we all get commonly summarized as "denial." I love every stinking thing about this sweater. After I knitted the buttonhole band, I thought something didn't look quite right, but I plowed ahead.
After I picked up for the collar, I thought something didn't look quite right, but I plowed ahead. My first sweater! Surely trusting the instructions would make it all right.
I have reached the point where I can no longer deny it. The buttonholes are not hitting the vertical center of the band. I did follow the pattern, but they are too far from the edge of the sweater (as you look at it, they are too far right).
A pause, while we get some context...for the last 12 years of my life I've been a working designer, and my sense of measurement is keen. Typically if I am centering something on a page, I'll eyeball it and then go back and check it mathematically. More often than not I'm less than .0625" off. Teeny-teeny-tiny. Things that are off center even this much have the ability to send me right over the edge. (Yes, I know this means I need to get a life.)
And here I am with my buttonholes about a quarter-inch off. People, I am telling you there is no amount of "it'll block out" that can fix it. It's a cotton-microfiber blend that is not going to budge when it's blocked.
In addition to that, I don't like the loose stitches on the edge of the collar. I can see the solution.
I need to rip the collar and button bands, pick up the collar and knit it first, then pick up button bands including the edge of the collar so the edges of the collar are included in the button bands. I may do this in ribbing, or I may follow the lead of my other two similar cardigans and knit it bottom up in stockinette (instead of side-out in ribbing). No more cables on the collar - I don't like them. It's going to be stockinette, and the front cables are going solo. I can see exactly what is to be done, and exactly how to do it.
Five inches of stockinette for the collar. More button bands, maybe in stockinette.
As you may have guessed, Twist is in time out.
Let's pause and reflect for a moment on my gargantuan project-of-late, the gorgeous (I mean the PATTERN, mine is a little more homely) Twist Cardigan.
(happy music begins)
I knitted allll the pieces.
I seamed it together, sometimes with frightening abandon.
I picked up the right number of stitches for the button bands, and knitted 'em right up.
I picked up for the collar.
I sewed on three buttons.
I knitted some of the collar.
I tried it on.
(record comes to screeching, needle-torturing halt)
I don't know how to break this to you. Or even to myself. I was writing weepy emails to Betty last night and didn't even know what I was talking about. (Sorry, Betty!)
The problem, or what I am really talking about is a particular form of knitting sickness we all get commonly summarized as "denial." I love every stinking thing about this sweater. After I knitted the buttonhole band, I thought something didn't look quite right, but I plowed ahead.
After I picked up for the collar, I thought something didn't look quite right, but I plowed ahead. My first sweater! Surely trusting the instructions would make it all right.
I have reached the point where I can no longer deny it. The buttonholes are not hitting the vertical center of the band. I did follow the pattern, but they are too far from the edge of the sweater (as you look at it, they are too far right).
A pause, while we get some context...for the last 12 years of my life I've been a working designer, and my sense of measurement is keen. Typically if I am centering something on a page, I'll eyeball it and then go back and check it mathematically. More often than not I'm less than .0625" off. Teeny-teeny-tiny. Things that are off center even this much have the ability to send me right over the edge. (Yes, I know this means I need to get a life.)
And here I am with my buttonholes about a quarter-inch off. People, I am telling you there is no amount of "it'll block out" that can fix it. It's a cotton-microfiber blend that is not going to budge when it's blocked.
In addition to that, I don't like the loose stitches on the edge of the collar. I can see the solution.
I need to rip the collar and button bands, pick up the collar and knit it first, then pick up button bands including the edge of the collar so the edges of the collar are included in the button bands. I may do this in ribbing, or I may follow the lead of my other two similar cardigans and knit it bottom up in stockinette (instead of side-out in ribbing). No more cables on the collar - I don't like them. It's going to be stockinette, and the front cables are going solo. I can see exactly what is to be done, and exactly how to do it.
Five inches of stockinette for the collar. More button bands, maybe in stockinette.
As you may have guessed, Twist is in time out.
posted by Jen at 3:10 PM
6 Comments:
Bummer!! Sorry to hear that!
I am so sorry. Good luck with redoing. I knitted the collar 2-3 times, and had to frog several inches of sleeve, then knit the cuff top down. I swear they grew when I blocked them. Now, my Ariann is timeout.
Oh, no! It will be Ok, really:)
hey its your first sweater don't be too hard on yourself. My first sweater was.... well plain old stockinette, I didn't even know how to sew it up right, and the sewing of the zipper was just horrible. I still wear the dang thing cause it shows how much I've learned since then.
I don't know if this will be relevant, but it may be a deliberate feature to have positioned the buttonholes a quarter inch off centre to the right. The button doesn't sit in the centre of the buttonhole when fastened, it rides up against the outside edge. By centring the right-hand side of the buttonhole, rather than the buttonhole itself, the designer has ensured that the buttons will be sitting at the centre of the band when you are wearing the cardigan.
And if that doesn't help, may I remind you that buttonholes are bastards.
I can't believe this is your first sweater!! Very nice, and I'm amazed you know what to do to fix it. I'd cry and shove it in a box.
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