Held at the Starting Gate

I am working on putting together a post about why I think feminism is important, but as you may expect, it's not so easy to articulate! So, instead of continuing my series of posts on my journey through the movement today, I'd like to share some information on my sweater.

I ended up going with Knit Picks' "Wool of the Andes," just like I thought I would, and eventually chose the color "Victorian." Here's the picture from their website, since it pretty accurately depicts the color:

That gorgeous, dusky rose goes with much more than you'd immediately think, while being more interesting to stare at for hours on end than grey.

I've taken my measurements, picked my pattern, received my yarn, and I'm so ready to start working on this sweater. There's just one problem; I'm not getting gauge.

I've swatched and swatched, but I just can't match stitches per inch with the designer of the Enrobed Wrap, Amy Herzog. I'm consistently one off in either direction, which doesn't seem like much, but alters the way the sweater will fit a great deal. So now I'm left with four major options:

1. Go with the pattern I've picked and my current gauge and hope that it doesn't make too much of a difference in the finished sweater.
2. Alter the pattern to match my current gauge, involving a fair bit of both math and intuition.
3. Find a different sweater pattern that has a gauge that matches mine with this yarn.
4. Buy a different yarn for the current sweater pattern.

I'm thinking number 2 is my best bet, with number 1 as a close second. I just wish everything had worked the first time!

Sweater Decision

Well, I have finally decided on a sweater: the "Enrobed Wrap" from Amy Herzog's book Fit to Flatter.


Isn't it super cute? Plus, I think any small sizing issues I make can be compensated for with the tie on the side. Since this will be my first sweater, I can foresee many sizing issues happening. But you better believe I'm going to swatch like crazy to avoid as many of them as possible.

Now I just have to figure out what yarn I'm going to use. I'm thinking KnitPicks' "Wool of the Andes" since it's cheap and comes in any color I could want. Of course, having that many color selections isn't helping me choose any faster. What lovely decision making problems to have!

A Fresh Start

This is not going to be a very happy blog entry.

You see, today I'm going to frog a very decent chunk of sweater. This much sweater, to be precise:

I've thought long and hard about this decision and no matter how much it pains me to start this sweater over (for the third time), I think it's the right choice. I'm just not feeling right about the shaping and don't think it's going to work for my body as-is, so I'm going to rip back and do some modifications so I'm happier with it. It will be worth it to put the extra hours in for a sweater I'm happy with rather than get a mediocre product I'll never wear just because I was impatient.

Wish me luck.

...

P.S. To the person who keeps giving my blog entries +1's -- thank you. It's so nice to see that!