Unravelling
If you do any sort of needlework, you are probably painfully aware of the process of unravelling. All that hard work, sometimes hours and hours of it, but for whatever reason, you have to unravel and start again.
I try my hardest to avoid this and quite rarely do I need to unravel for more than a few rows but the start of this sweater has proven to be a pain in the ass.
After I had done the simple 2x2 rib part, it took me literal hours to figure out how to work the leaf pattern. The techniques needed are simple enough, but the construction gave me a headache. I read, counted and reworked the first few rows again and again and almost could not figure out why the stitch count and then obviously the design did not match.
I finally realised that instead of following the chart for the whole row, it was to be started again after every stitch marker. It didn’t say so anywhere in the pattern so I just assumed the repeat part would be done for the whole row. Everything has been easy in the pattern from then on and surprisingly fast.
After I had figured out how to actually work the pattern, I took a hard look at the start of what would be a pretty luxurious sweater, and knew I would not be happy if I continued as is.
I despice, absolutely despice, knitwear that has holes in it, meaning it’s been done with needles too thick for the yarn in my opinion. In my not so humble opinion that makes everything look cheap and untidy. I’m not about to work on a knit for 80 hours for it to not look neat.
The pattern called for 5mm needles on the rib and 6mm or 6,5mm everywhere else. I was suspicios right from the start but did not listen to my gut, nor make a swatch because ain’t nobody got time for that.
What I do have time for apparently is unraveling a few hours of knitting and then starting from scratch with smaller needles. I went for 3,5mm and 4,5mm and it was sooo worth it. I know it’s really hard to see the difference between the first and last images, but trust me, it made the biggest difference and now I’m super excited to continue with the sweater.
Electronic-terrorism, voice to skull and neuro monitoring on Hive and Steem. You can ignore this, but your going to wish you didnt soon. This is happening whether you believe it or not. https://ecency.com/fyrstikken/@fairandbalanced/i-am-the-only-motherfucker-on-the-internet-pointing-to-a-direct-source-for-voice-to-skull-electronic-terrorism
So...This sweater is mine?
Dream big!
I'm ever the optimist Eve, you know that.
This weaving is just out of this world 😂 so engaging wow 🤩
You were able to unravel mohair? I haven't worked with silk mohair blend, but I never try it on wool/mohair because those fibers lock together like velcro. Good job saving that yarn and the project!
Surprigly yes, even with two mohair strands and it only got stuck a few times. Might have been impossible if my problem was reversed and I needed to switch to bigger needles.
Yes, the loose gauge certainly helped you.
It’s so funny that you posted this! I am working with double pointed needles and had to pull out some of my work yesterday, as well. It’s always nice to know I am not the only one!
Happens to everyone, even the experienced knitters :)
That is beautiful yarn, where did you get it from?
The second image does look much more organic - like that is how it is meant to be.
I guess the lesson is to trust your gut instinct 😍.
I buy most of my yarns from
titityy.fi, lately I’ve been loving Sandnes Garn which is a very popular yarn maker from Norway.
Ah, thanks, good to know. I've heard a lot about Sandnes Garn, I must have a look for it on my travels. It always gets very good reviews from knitters.
My wife will hand me the defective item and ask me to unravel it ... but I must stay out of sight.
Since I'm a nice guy. When I'm done, I'll even re-wind the yarn into a neat looking ball so that it looks like nothing ever happened.
I typically use a tool that looks just like this.