Gauging a Problem
I have what you might call a “gauge problem”. This is a tendency to not swatch like any novice would and blindly trust that the hat (because these are the patterns that always bite me) will turn out to be the perfect size for any head that it perches on. Unfortunately, yarn, needles and good intentions do not work that way. I knit my sister a beautiful and cuddly version of the cabled newsboy cap from Stich and Bitch Nation sans brim, but somehow managed to mangle it such that it’s almost twice as big as it really should be. Sigh. Frog and repeat, I suppose. She’s been enjoying wearing it around in the interim and gleefully calling herself a melonhead.
This is my Achilles’ heel with hats, this size issue. I’ve also struck out with the too small conundrum with this pattern from www.knitty.com, attempting a hat for my man. I finished it and tried to jam it onto his head with the little ear flaps sticking up like wings on top and an expression of serious doubt on his face. There was no saving it, it had to be remade. In my defense, the second try was much better.
If you’ve ever heard the argument of the tight knitter vs. the loose knitter it has some relevance here. My problem is that I’m a tight knitter at heart who has gradually reformed herself into deliberately loosening up. Clearly I’m still working out the kinks in acceptance. We’ll just pretend that this metaphor doesn’t carry over to other aspects of my life. Ha.
In baby plant news, of all the starters that I’ve seeded only the tomatoes are coming up so far, which I find hilarious. The plan for mass planting holds and I’ve got to get out to my garden plot to dig up the last 175 of the 200 square feet available to me. Tick, tick, tick. It’s mid-May and I feel like I’m running out of time. Shovel on the shoulder and rear in gear, stat. After that I’ve got some very important hat surgery to do.
Hillory
Morgen
Hill, I was sad to read that you have the same “I don’t need no stinking swatches” problem that I do. Morgen practically held a gun to my head to get me to do it before I started the Elizabeth Zimmerman cabled cardigan that is my next, and scariest, project. She was right, which I hate to admit.
I also, like you, was a tight knitter by nature. I trained my hands to pretend they were on a mild dose of valium, explaining to them gently that the whole thing wasn’t going to fall into pieces in my lap if I let go just a little. My knitting is now not only looser, but much more even and prettier to look at.
And finally, mid-May is never too late. My parents never put in a garden before Memorial Day. Just too many rotted seeds in their history to trust it any earlier.
I have a horribly tight gauge, too. I try to relax, but mostly, I just swatch, even though I HATE it.
I can’t manage to knit things the right size. In fact, I think it’s a problem I’m having more NOW than when I started knitting! Even when I swatch it turns out wrong, but that’s probably because I never make a large enough swatch.
I started and frogged a tam just yesterday. It was WAY WAY too small. This particular yarn has been knit and tinked so many times… it makes me sad that I can’t successfully find a pattern that will give it a purpose.