Victory! Kinda!
Posted by Elizabeth on 11-07-2008 at 1:50 pm
I said that my knitting was terribly boring. And it still is, really, but I did finish the Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban scarf. It was terribly exciting! It has fringe! See?
It's done! It looked more narrow than the last one I made, but I figured that my gauge had changed in the last year and gauge is not terribly critical to scarves, so it didn't matter. And it still doesn't, really, but I found out why my gauge had changed when I went to put the needles away.
Now, this scarf is supposed to be knit on US size 7 needles, and I have two sets of US size 7 needles. I had, however forgotten two things about my US size 7 needles, 1) I had loaned one set to a friend, and 2) my US size 5 needles were the same color as the size 7's.
Yes. I knit the whole scarf on needles two sizes smaller than I had intended to use. However, there is something else about this whole thing that bothers me, and that I am shocked I did not notice before the end of the project.
All of my DPN's are of the cheap, aluminum variety, and they come in sets of four, not sets of five, which was why I had two sets of needles to begin with. I do not have two sets of size 5 needles. I used five needles to knit this scarf.
This means, therefore, that I knit the whole scarf with four US size 5 needles, and one US size 7 needles, and I did not notice. Two whole needle size difference, and I was oblivious. Pause, for a moment, and boggle with me.
This does, of course, explain why I was getting these weird spots in my scarf where I seemed to knit looser than other parts. At oddly regular intervals. After noticing the needle difference, I went back and looked at the scarf.
Look at the conveniently placed arrows, and notice that, sure enough, the looser stitches are every five rows.
What did I learn? To check the needle size before I start a project. Every single time.
That, and I'm a complete dork. But we knew that already.
It's done! It looked more narrow than the last one I made, but I figured that my gauge had changed in the last year and gauge is not terribly critical to scarves, so it didn't matter. And it still doesn't, really, but I found out why my gauge had changed when I went to put the needles away.
Now, this scarf is supposed to be knit on US size 7 needles, and I have two sets of US size 7 needles. I had, however forgotten two things about my US size 7 needles, 1) I had loaned one set to a friend, and 2) my US size 5 needles were the same color as the size 7's.
Yes. I knit the whole scarf on needles two sizes smaller than I had intended to use. However, there is something else about this whole thing that bothers me, and that I am shocked I did not notice before the end of the project.
All of my DPN's are of the cheap, aluminum variety, and they come in sets of four, not sets of five, which was why I had two sets of needles to begin with. I do not have two sets of size 5 needles. I used five needles to knit this scarf.
This means, therefore, that I knit the whole scarf with four US size 5 needles, and one US size 7 needles, and I did not notice. Two whole needle size difference, and I was oblivious. Pause, for a moment, and boggle with me.
This does, of course, explain why I was getting these weird spots in my scarf where I seemed to knit looser than other parts. At oddly regular intervals. After noticing the needle difference, I went back and looked at the scarf.
Look at the conveniently placed arrows, and notice that, sure enough, the looser stitches are every five rows.
What did I learn? To check the needle size before I start a project. Every single time.
That, and I'm a complete dork. But we knew that already.
Knitting | 1 comment
