I don't know if it happens to anyone else, but for the past month, all my attempts at knitting have been less than satisfactory, to say the least. I am trying to only use yarn from my stash and it seems like every combination of yarn and pattern I touch is wrong in some way. I'm just not getting the results I want.
This is the first time I've ever had this happen. Usually, I can pick up some yarn and start right in, but not so now. I wonder if the Knitting Genie feels like she's been getting no credit from me and she's now going to tell me what my knitting life is like without her. Please, please come back!
I did a swatch for an Aran for one of of my granddaughters. The stitch gauge was 25 sts = 4" and yet it called for a worsted weight yarn. The gauge was in pattern, and I wish they wouldn't do that. I'd much rather they give the gauge on ss. I figure if I am knitting the same on ss as the pattern maker then I'll get the same gauge on the pattern. I know that isn't always true, but the other way is just as problematic. For example, it says "over pat." Well, which part of the pattern? the center, the cables, the moss st.? You would actually have to do all the patterns and then measure, but then you are halfway done with the sweater, for a child at least. Another problem is that I knit differently on a pattern once I have learned the it. That means that my swatch is going to be wrong. I'd have to knit the swatch 2-3 times before I was consistent. The variation doesn't matter much when you are actually knitting the sweater because the pattern repeats several times across the sweater and you usually have a ribbing at the bottom to adjust any change of gauge at the beginning.
Grrr. The first yarn I used was too dense. The second was too fine. I could get the gauge, but I didn't like the way it felt. I tried a different pattern and didn't like the results there either. So I tried another yarn with a different pattern. It was a cotton with a lot of multicolor bits mixed in and I bought it thinking it would be great for one of the granddaughters. Well, I didn't like it. The yarn is a little too fragile for 6 year olds. The little "tufts" will soon be picked off and the sweater will droop.
Somehow, I seem to have lost that well developed sense long-time knitters have that show us in our minds what a certain yarn will look like when worked up. Is it "knitter's imaging?" You don't know the value of something until it is gone. I hope this is just a temporary thing like writer's block...or maybe it is the Knitting Genie. Please, please come back!
