Sometimes, you just need a mindless comfort-knit. This fellow is going to be a cardigan, worked in ‘Nepal’, a wool-alpaca blend by Drops:-
What I was too ashamed to tell you in my last post when I showed you this lovely new yarn I’d bought…
…was that in a moment of financial insanity, I actually bought three different bundles of yarn, to make three different cardigans. (I’m always cold. As is this house. The cardigans will at least get a great deal of wear.) The Drops Nepal is well on its way to being cardiganised. The pattern is Trip To Town by Drops:-
Meanwhile, the luscious Malabrigo Arroyo – shall we have another photo? Yeah, let’s have another photo – has been subject to a tiny change of plan.
I couldn’t persuade it to conform to the gauge needed for Plan A (Ardelise, by Vanessa Smith). Well, I could, if I used inappropriately large needles, but the resulting fabric loses its smooth prettiness because it’s so gappy. Look at the photo below: the portion of my gauge swatch on the right (ringed in purple) is smooth and lovely and you can focus on the luscious colour changes. Unfortunately the gauge is way too small. The portion on the left (ringed in orange) is knitted on larger needles and achieves gauge, but don’t you think it looks gappy and messy?
So I’ll be making this instead, and it will be perfect… or possibly it won’t, because gauge swatches are sneaky blighters that don’t always tell the truth.
As for the baby blanket, THANK YOU for all your wonderful comments and suggestions. An emergency planning meeting was convened (OK, we had our regular pub knit-night), and a friend has taken the blanket home to fill in the gap with a clever, personalised, solution.
Anyway, I’ve finally seen Baby (who is perfect and gorgeous), as well as New Mum, and In-Danger-Of-Spontaneously-Combusting-With-Pride New Dad. But it seems that Mum has been reading here and is aware of the blanket and its trials and tribulations. Because whilst I was right in my assumption that she is currently Very Busy with her newborn, it transpires that she’s the sort of Very Busy that’s a bit mindless, with plenty opportunity for reading knitting blogs at 3am. Hello Ruth!
I just hope that she – and more importantly the baby – will like the blanket. There’s a whole lot of love in amongst the crazy unevenness of that three-person knitty effort.
And please forgive the shortness of this post. We currently have no wifi so I’m pretty much reduced to etching this post on to a piece of bark and flinging it into the air. Also, I begin my new job today (seeing outpatients, rather than inpatients), and I’m a touch jittery. Time for a tiny bit more comfort-knitting before I get ready for work…
Really interesting to see the gauge swatch v reality – thank you! Gauge really bugs me (and as a fairly inexperienced knitter mine is still changing – grrrr) and it’s so helpful to see how one has to be adaptable and not convince oneself all will be well when evidence suggests otherwise …
Good Luck today in your new role, you will be brilliant. Congratulations to the new parents. Enjoy some mindless knitting, can’t be beaten for relaxation.
Or you could have used a stone tablet and chisel and sent it on a donkey ?
So much beautiful yarn *swoon* I have no doubt that you could have made the yarn work for you, but Porphura also looks lovely, so it’s win-win really!
Sorry, but I quite like the orange circled stuff, it shows off the wool to a better advantage, and that wool oh that wool!
My feeling exactly.
Hope that your new job goes well and that it brings you a lot of job satisfaction and happiness. Comfort knitting/crochet/stitching just can’t be beaten. Love and best wishes x
Good luck with the new job. Congratulations to the new parents.
I thought the purple circled ‘knit’ looked a tad ‘pinched’. Is there a midway point in needle size?
Oh my… I’m 66 years old, I’ve been knitting since I was 7… I have NEVER knitted a test swatch…. I just buy the weight yarn the pattern suggests along with the needles and knit away…. just like I’m doing on your sunset cowl bravely knitting on 3.5 mm needles instead of your suggested 3mm because I don’t have any 3mm figured it shouldn’t make that much difference… I’ll see soon enough I guess 🙂
I understand the short post, go have a good time at that new job. It’s what you wanted so it will be oke. As for the wool, sigh, we all did that. Buy to much, to much money spent. I’m happy the baby blanket is sorted out. You know, being busy with baby’s makes you long for a normal conversation, read or what ever not is about that baby. You’re posts are funny and of course she reads them, she’s your friend! Silly girl XD
I like the swatch stitch on the left in orange… the one on the right seems too tight and small. I have never made a test swatch either, but then I don’t ever do anything by the rules anyway!
Everyone is different I suppose and we all see things thru different eyes, but, I really like the looks of the one on the left. Colors look sharper and it just appeals to me more. That’s why we don’t all wear the same thing, right? Whatever you make, that yarn is delicious.
Best of luck with your new job!!
I don’t see the gappy look you’re talking about. And I’ve been very deceived by swatches myself. But whatever you feel comfortable with. Malabrigo is not an inexpensive yarn!
Sometimes, these yarn purchases actually fall under the category of financial necessity rather than insanity. Take, for example, my purchase of yarn inspired by your previous post. Had I ordered a single ball, I would have needed to pay for postage; however, by adding a cone of wool in a gorgeous purple that was exactly the colour I was looking for (yes, a cone – the 3ply only comes in half kilo cones, apparently) and then adding on a replacement pair of circular needles, I was able to push my order to the price where postage becomes free.
Financial necessity, I tell you.
Besides, all of those yarns are beautiful and will make fantastic cardigans for you, which it appears are also a necessity. It’s all in the way you look at these things. 🙂
I agree with plan B! A good around-the-house sweater should have a nice firm gauge so it stands up to all the wear and still looks fresh! You could also play with maths and swap your gauge for the other pattern’s gauge but that approach usually bites me hard in the hindparts so I’m not recommending it 😉
I personally prefer the gauge in orange, but you should totally stick with your plan B and do what makes you happy 🙂 And good luck with the new job!
Sorry to be a dissenting voice but I think the orange ringed knitting looks relaxed and such that the fabric will have a nice drape. The purple ringed stitches look tight and as if the resulting fabric will be hard and stiff. If you are put off because the stitches ringed in orange are asymmetric. I was commenting on a blog recently about the look of some knitting I had done and was directed to this http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/FEATwhyply.html It explains how different styles of yarn give different effects.
I too see nothing wrong with the larger gauge! I do see the need for 3 cardigans…looking for a pattern for some yarn in my stash-lovely wool/silk/cashmere and IDID THINK about trying gauge before I buy a pattern. I usually just start and hope for the best!
The baby blanket is be-oo-tiful! I like the gauge on the left, too. I do have a question, though. Exactly why does that straight side occur. so that the “v” disappears? Is that an indication that gauge is wrong? When it happens to me, I blame it on my knitting prowess(or lack thereof), but not sure I should take that liberty with your knitting! I hope the new job went well. If you are like me, you will quiver for the first week, then find out it is the BEST JOB EVER.
If you’re cold all the time, then this gorgeous wool is merely an investment in your health. Own it and wear it proudly. Best of luck with your first few days on the job. You’ll be a pro in no time.
Hello, Ruth and congratulations on your new bundle of joy. Alys
I love that pattern in the last pic! Beautiful work xx