I have sat here, at this computer, for I don't know how long, writing, deleting, and rewriting, only to delete again. I really should go to bed, but my blog has been silent for two weeks, while my family has suffered two great losses. Monday, after a long battle with cancer, we lost my uncle Jessie. We had his memorial service Wednesday, then Friday, while we were still reeling from the pain, we lost my Brother-in-law, Wesley, who has suffered multiple illnesses for years. Two great men of God in just one week. As if that weren't painful enough, we lost another friend to a terrible accident. Dee wasn't a member of our Church, but he and his wife loved to come to our monthly singing services. He was such a nice man, and will be genuinely missed. All these men will be genuinely missed. I wish I had words to describe how much I honor them, and will miss them, but all words escape me.
On a side note (and it seems so unimportant now), I did manage to finish my sweater before the Soiree. It's hard to be excited about it in light of all else, but I thought some of my readers might be curious to know if I had reached that goal.
Please, forgive me if I'm not around much in the next month. I just haven't felt in the mood to write. Also, please...Please, pray for my family..
Friday, February 17, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Hitting A Snag
Yes, folks, it's February 2011 all over again. I hit my first snag and had to frog. The good news is that it's my fault, which means the pattern is easy enough to make this fixable. The problem started with the sizing.
Warning to male readers: The following post may be a little too womanly for your comfort. Continue reading at own risk...
Instead of Small, Med, Large, etc..., most patterns are written for you to choose a size based on bust measurement. I measured mine at somewere between 45 and a half and 46. The closest size on the pattern is a 46 and a quarter. Now that doesn't allow much wiggle room, so normally I go up to the next larger size. The problem is that in this case, that next larger size is 49 and a half. Wow, that's a lot of wiggle room. The only other time I made a pattern with more than two inches of ease, I ended up with huge arm holes, that landed almost to my waist. This would be ok, if I were just going to lounge around the house, but I want to wear this for a dressy occasion. I decided to tweak it a little. It's a top-down pattern, making it possible to try it on as I go, so I formed a plan of combining the two sizes. I cast on, and knit the yoke as for the smaller size. After I got passed the raglan increases, and separated the sleeves to form the armholes, I increased to the amount of stitches needed for the larger size. I was so proud of myself for improvising so cleverly. I knit down passed the waist decreases, passed the hip increases, and was getting ready to begin the next phase, when I thought it might be a good idea to check the length. I transfered my work to a piece of waste yarn, so I could try it on. It's a good thing I did, because it looked terrible. The yoke was beautiful, but the line I increased pooched out, and the rest of the sweater hung loosely from it. Eww! My only choice was to rip back to the armholes, and reknit the sweater, this time going by the correct size. Oh, well..I tried..
I'm hoping I can still have it finished in time to wear to the Sweetheart Soiree. If I'll work diligently enough, it should still be possible. Wish me luck.
Warning to male readers: The following post may be a little too womanly for your comfort. Continue reading at own risk...
Instead of Small, Med, Large, etc..., most patterns are written for you to choose a size based on bust measurement. I measured mine at somewere between 45 and a half and 46. The closest size on the pattern is a 46 and a quarter. Now that doesn't allow much wiggle room, so normally I go up to the next larger size. The problem is that in this case, that next larger size is 49 and a half. Wow, that's a lot of wiggle room. The only other time I made a pattern with more than two inches of ease, I ended up with huge arm holes, that landed almost to my waist. This would be ok, if I were just going to lounge around the house, but I want to wear this for a dressy occasion. I decided to tweak it a little. It's a top-down pattern, making it possible to try it on as I go, so I formed a plan of combining the two sizes. I cast on, and knit the yoke as for the smaller size. After I got passed the raglan increases, and separated the sleeves to form the armholes, I increased to the amount of stitches needed for the larger size. I was so proud of myself for improvising so cleverly. I knit down passed the waist decreases, passed the hip increases, and was getting ready to begin the next phase, when I thought it might be a good idea to check the length. I transfered my work to a piece of waste yarn, so I could try it on. It's a good thing I did, because it looked terrible. The yoke was beautiful, but the line I increased pooched out, and the rest of the sweater hung loosely from it. Eww! My only choice was to rip back to the armholes, and reknit the sweater, this time going by the correct size. Oh, well..I tried..
I'm hoping I can still have it finished in time to wear to the Sweetheart Soiree. If I'll work diligently enough, it should still be possible. Wish me luck.
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