Knitting Sutra

Still With the Swatch

I'm still wrangling with the gauge on the swatch for the Husband Sweater. I went up to 6.0mm needles, only to go over my target number of 18sts per 4". So, I start using ever-smaller needles. Somehow, now even 4.5mm is too big. WTF? The 5mm was way to small the first time I knit the swatch.

It occurred to me last night that maybe I shouldn't knit a swatch with the same ball of yarn over and over again. Maybe all this stitching has made the yarn "fatter" than it really is. So, last night I started again with the 4.5mm needles using the other end of the ball.

This is when I start to lose interest in the project. I've knit 5 squares now, and I'm getting nowhere. I have "Stitch n' Bitch Nation," which includes very detailed instructions on how to update a pattern to work with your choice of yarn. I dunno if I have the constitution for all that math, especially without anyone to help me through it.

I wonder how other people manage to push themselves through the swatch phase of a project? It has never taken me this long to get it right, and I've never had such bizarre results.

Meanwhile, I have a few skeins of Colinette Point 5 in Morocco calling my name, just aching to be a scarf. Oh sweet scarf. You don't need a swatch. You will knit up in an evening or two.

I can see that this sweater will be an exercise in dedication. Maybe there is a Zen lesson in here somewhere.

Endless Swatching

On Thursday, Ribbels called to tell me my yarn was in. I ordered 18 balls of Lana Grossa Bingo in a forest green color (I'll post photos when I get the camera back). I'm working on a pullover for my husband. He has this habit of rubbing holes in the elbows of his sweaters, so I'm hoping to find a good pattern that I can just knit against over and over again. If anyone has any advice for reenforcing elbows (other than adding pleather patches - yuk!), I'm all ears.

I was so keen to get started and make good progress by time he returns from Australia, but I'm having trouble getting the gauge. I started with 5.0mm needles and I was half a stitch off. I went up to 5.5mm needles and no difference. I only have pair of 6.0mm double pointeds, but I'll try to knit up another swatch on them anyway. The yarn gauge indicates 4.5 - 5.5mm needles; will it look too lose if I go up another half mm?

I seem to have a lot of trouble getting gauge. If I manage to get the right stitch count, the rows are off completely, or vice versa. Half of the needles in my stash were bought to try (and fail) to get the right gauge for a swatch. I never seem to have the right size needles.

I think this is why I've only managed to finish two sweaters in the 3 years I've been knitting. I frogged one whole sweater and will soon unravel the front of another one because of issues that should have materialized when I knit the swatch. I can't help but feel that there's a disconnect somewhere and I'm overlooking a key ingredient in swatching. Or does everyone have this problem?