But first, a the title says, a cautionary tale. I bought, at a reasonable price, two big 400g balls in order to knit the jackety coaty thing below, so seduced was I by the big ribby things and the giant collary thing on the front.
BEWARE: this pattern is fundamentally flawed...
This is the back, or at least as much of the back that I knitted before it visited the great frog pond in the sky which is a major problem with this particular yarn as A) it's a boucle loopy yarn and as such a b***er to frog and b) it comes in a giant ball which you have to knit from the centre of (and you can't put it back once you've knitted it).
The beige rectangle is actualy a 12" ruler I put there to emphasise a point...namely, the pattern dimensions are plain WRONG! I have already knitted 2 other garments in this yarn so foolishly dispensed with the tension square ( as I already knew to knit a size smaller and it'd be fine) and TRUSTED the pattern. Okay, my tension was 13 sts to 4" whereas it should have been 15sts, BUT my back measured 25 1/2" ; on a size that should have come out as a 39" all around the maths appeared to be a bit flawed even with the slight difference in tension, I still couldn't multiply 39" to 51" (which it would be if the front measured the same), so I investigated further.
The back said to cast on 90 sts for the smallest size, basic maths told me that 90 goes into 15 (sts) 6 times and 6 times 4 (inches) = 24" Just for the back; add the stitches for the front and the damn thing was 48-56" wide depending on the rib overlap, I couldn't believe they'd been so careless on a simple thing like that, I'm crap at maths and if I can see it's wrong, it must be glaringly obvious!
So, I'm left with a half frogged giant ball of yarn and a pattern I'm going to have to design myself 'cos they obviously can't be bothered to check their patterns. It'll take a while but I'm planning adding a dart or split at the back (to make room for my burgeoning bottom!) and some sort of shaping at the sides which Sirdar rarely seem to do in patterns these days (or am I being biased?) Whatever, really, not what I expected or wanted.
On to brighter news and a bit of a conundrum. I spent 3 hours yesterday doing the hall conga again this time with a cone of 1/14 singles pure cashmere (pushing boundaries, me) for the purposes of dyeing. Was a little generous with the filling of my dyepots so left with some leftover dye which I hurriedly applied to those pesky skeins I've been moaning about 'cos they're too damn pale and insipid!
Anyway, the results for the cashmere, washed then soaked from the night before with vinegar v. good despite my trying to go for an autumnal theme (anyone TRIED to mix brown from other dye colours?). The other skeins just look exactly what they were, rushed, and the leftover colours have added to the overall effect, some better than others.
My dilemma is...Do I dunk them all in my big pot and overdye AGAIN with a single colour, say blue? it just seems a mishmash at the moment.
On a more positive note, in my colour mixing phase, I chanced upon an interesting effect, I mixed a bluey green with magenta (thinking at least the blues would match), it looked indigo, deep and mysterious, which surprised me. What surprised me more was as I was syringing the dye out, the two colours seperated as you can see in the pic above producing a most unusual green/lilac mottle, not what I was after but pretty all the same!
I went for a real random blobby effect this time to get lots of variation- I actually WANTED it patchy, so there! Can't wait for it to dry so I can wind then skein it to see what it's like in a more reasonable length!
Have started Little red riding hoodie but unsure if I will frog that too, I'm a bit of a loss as to what to do next...pick up one of many UFO's that I've already put down because of a problem (or boredom)...do a giant sewing up session (which I hate)...or start something spanking new (but that could be Startitis), aaaaaaarghhhh!!!!!!!
3 comments:
I get realy angry at faults in patterns ; does no one proof read the goddamn things ?
Sounds like you have been having fun with your dyes and cashmere no less !! mind you said you have a mountain of it :) I hope to get my sock yarn done on the next few days so will see how well I do the 'conga ' !!
Thanks for the kind support! I laughed and sympathized at your dyeing efforts! I would not dare to try, so I applaud you for your efforts. Looks like we have a lot in common except Japanese embroidery and I want to know more. I knit sweater outfits for bears and dresss them for a homelss group at CHristmas. I think a bear in a designer outfit is much better, don't you? Good luck with the pattern. signed a knitaholic, cross-stitching, yarn-stashing, book hoarding, patchworking, bear making, rottweiler loving lunatic.
That's so annoying Chris, especially after knitting so long a stretch of plain stocking stich on finer needles. Have you looked at the Sirdar site to see if there are any errata? Or just given them an earbashing?
As for dying browns I'll admit I've not tried yet but for me half the fun to playing and seeing what comes out of the pot. Oh and Tues was a disaster re timing - Mum & Tony visited Bob using my car and things took longer than we thought so by the time I had my car back it would have been such a short time knitting and more time driving there and back. Next Tues is a definate though!
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