Sometimes projects just don't work out. See this sweater? It's Wee Wildflower by Alana Dakos which is an adorable cardigan for little girls. My little girl picked it out from my Ravelry queue and said she wanted it in pink (the picture reads red but it's actually a berry pink). We went yarn shopping and she picked out the yarn she wanted which also happened to be the entirely wrong gauge. C'est la vie with kids so I purchased said Cascade 220 Superwash, knit up a big swatch, and did the maths to compensate for the difference in gauge. All set, right? WRONG. The sweater is skin tight and too short! There could be a multitude of things wrong here:
1) The math is wrong - I double-checked my numbers and they all work out.
2) My gauge lied - I measured the sweater gauge against my swatch gauge and all is well.
3) My kid grew while I was knitting the dang sweater - entirely possible!
Well then, what's a knitter to do? Frog the whole thing and start over, of course. Little A still wants the sweater so I've frogged the whole thing and will cast on this Thanksgiving weekend to see if I can't plow through the bulk of the body during my four days off work. It has been a really long time since I've had anything come so wonkily off the needles so I'll take it in stride and eat my knitterly humble pie as I cast on....again.
Oh no! Hope the second time's the charm.
ReplyDeleteMe too!
DeleteWhat a shame as it is such a pretty colour. good luck with the next one.
ReplyDeleteSuch a shame, it really looks great in the picture. But not a lot you could do about it, so I guess there's not other option than to start over. At least you have a recipient that is very eager to start wearing this lovely piece of knitting :)
ReplyDeleteWait! Did you try washing/blocking it? That yarn grows a ton when wet. The sweater is adorable and it's so much fun when the kids start putting together knitting projects!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura! Yes indeedy, I blocked all the pieces before knitting the button bands so I'm not sure what happened there. I'm giving it another go!
DeleteAh, stinks that this was a fail. Maybe it was a pattern error and not yours, as it seems like all your calculations came out spot on. Plus you are not exactly a new sweater knitter.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on round two on knitting this lovely little sweater for your girl. You are a great mom!
Thanks, Andi! I've already cast on and plan on knitting quite a bit of it over the long holiday weekend. I just had to get the gumption up to do that decorative edging again!
DeleteI feel your pain. Yesterday I spent six solid hours — yes, six hours — knitting a test swatch, trying to get short rows to work in a sweater pattern that calls for them in garter stitch, in the round. Turns out no one does that, and my team of experts (to whom I turn for advice, all of whom have been knitting for decades) was equally flummoxed.
ReplyDeleteI finally found a passable solution/technique. Not what I wanted, but I'm sticking with it for now, since the sweater is close to finished.
But back to you (sorry, a minor whine): good luck this weekend!