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No more 3mm cardigans
Nov. 13th, 2019 08:44 pmSince August, progress has been really slow. In part, because Eisirt had more evenings at home than previously expected. In part, because knitting a full jumper on 3 mm needles is really quite ambitious.
Despite smuggling the project along to the birthday rally two weeks ago, I really didn't progress as much as I'd hoped. By the time I'd just finished the second side piece I was cursing all 3 mm needles and hoping they would be used for kindling.
Perhaps I should instead knit the birthday project with my yarn held double? After all, DK weight yarn really means "double knit"; as in: 2 strands of sock yarn held together. I made a quick test swatch and immediately dived onto Ravelry for a DK-weight pattern. Not long after, I was frogging everything I'd knit on the Redford and casting on the Stonehaven Sweater.
With Eisirt away to work for both weekend days, I had plenty of time to figure out gauge and size. I'm not meeting the pattern's gauge but I don't want to go any smaller than the 4 mm needles I'm currently using. They make a fine knit fabric, not as loose as I'd use for a shawl but still neat and loose enough not to be a plank.
I'm knitting the size L, because at my gauge it will get me something with roughly 10 cm of ease -- depending where on the body you'd measure. *wink*
Current state of SuperSecretSweater. This panel is somewhere around 60 cm wide.
Above is a picture of the back panel. I'm going much more swiftly and enjoying it much more than those tiny tiny rows on 3 mm needles. Holding the yarn double is not much of a problem although I do have to untwist the threads every now and then. There's no longer any problems with different dye baths. I did have to order a few extra skeins, because I'll need more yarn now, but only three skeins should serve me very well.
So: memo to me: Do not knit any garments with yarn smaller than DK-weight or needles smaller than 4 mm. And I'm SO not sorry to have switched this project around, despite buying a couple of new needles in 3 mm. This is a thousand times more fun to do. And the resulting fabric feels much more like a sweater than a thick t-shirt. And the bottom hem is a ribbing followed by a purl row that prevents all the rolling and curling of the hem I hated so much in the original pieces. So there's that. Good results all around!
Despite smuggling the project along to the birthday rally two weeks ago, I really didn't progress as much as I'd hoped. By the time I'd just finished the second side piece I was cursing all 3 mm needles and hoping they would be used for kindling.
Perhaps I should instead knit the birthday project with my yarn held double? After all, DK weight yarn really means "double knit"; as in: 2 strands of sock yarn held together. I made a quick test swatch and immediately dived onto Ravelry for a DK-weight pattern. Not long after, I was frogging everything I'd knit on the Redford and casting on the Stonehaven Sweater.
With Eisirt away to work for both weekend days, I had plenty of time to figure out gauge and size. I'm not meeting the pattern's gauge but I don't want to go any smaller than the 4 mm needles I'm currently using. They make a fine knit fabric, not as loose as I'd use for a shawl but still neat and loose enough not to be a plank.
I'm knitting the size L, because at my gauge it will get me something with roughly 10 cm of ease -- depending where on the body you'd measure. *wink*
Current state of SuperSecretSweater. This panel is somewhere around 60 cm wide.
Above is a picture of the back panel. I'm going much more swiftly and enjoying it much more than those tiny tiny rows on 3 mm needles. Holding the yarn double is not much of a problem although I do have to untwist the threads every now and then. There's no longer any problems with different dye baths. I did have to order a few extra skeins, because I'll need more yarn now, but only three skeins should serve me very well.
So: memo to me: Do not knit any garments with yarn smaller than DK-weight or needles smaller than 4 mm. And I'm SO not sorry to have switched this project around, despite buying a couple of new needles in 3 mm. This is a thousand times more fun to do. And the resulting fabric feels much more like a sweater than a thick t-shirt. And the bottom hem is a ribbing followed by a purl row that prevents all the rolling and curling of the hem I hated so much in the original pieces. So there's that. Good results all around!
