I will soon join a KAL (that's a Knitalong) for the lovely Delancey Cardigan. It was love at first sight with this particular cardigan. When the design first came out I immediately bought it and found some stash yarn and started knitting. It wasn't until I finished the body that I realized it might be too big.
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| Before the sleeves it wasn't too bad. |
Here's what I've determined as my problem. Gauge, of course. I knit a swatch like a good knitter. I did not wash and block the swatch, but I did knit one. That has to count for something.
To break things down:
My swatch was 17.25 sts x 24 rows = 4 x 4 inches in Stockinette stitch
The required gauge was 18 sts x 26.5 rows = 4 x 4 inches in Stockinette stitch
The truth is I almost never come close to Row Gauge no matter what I do so I ignore it. In most patterns this is not a problem. In this pattern, IT MATTERS!!!
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| With sleeves, it is obviously HUGE! |
Once I started picking up for the first sleeve, I realized I couldn't pick up the amount for the size I was knitting (36, btw). I had to pick up the number for the next size up because my armhole was much larger than it should be. I still managed to fool myself into thinking everything would be ok so I kept on knitting. At some point I tried it on again and realized this thing made me look 50 lbs heavier than I am and it was unacceptable.
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| I think I could get about 5 arms in that sleeve. |
This is my worst failure as a knitter so let's hope my second take on this cardigan will be more successful.
3 comments:
You'll get it next time, I have faith in you!
I love your color choice. Hopefully this time it works out better for you. My swatch came out too small instead of too big so I decided to make the medium instead of the small (I am in between those sizes, so just went up). I am hoping it works out. If it's too small, I'll save it for my daughters when they're 12 or so. ;)
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