Life's a Stitch

First – big news for the son of a stitch  – his agent just called and he has a part in a commercial! It’s exciting news, his first official job.

OK, so less is more, more is less is the rhyme I’ve made up to remember how to get gauge. If you need more stitches you need a lesser sized needle, if you need fewer stitches you need a greater sized needle. On that note, I started swatching for Marina. The gauge is supposed to be 16 stitches over two inches on 3.25mm (3US) needles. I’m getting 11 stitches to two inches. Holy, if more is less, I’m gong to be knitting this project on circular toothpicks. 

I got up enough nerve to try 3.0 mm needles. Picture those bamboo barbeque skewers. The result? Thirteen stitches per two inches. Still not good enough. I thought that maybe if I used my gauge and knit the smaller size it might work. When I took the total number to be cast on and divided by my gauge, it was still larger than the largest size in the pattern. I apologize if this is sounding too much like math. Here are my options:

1. Use my gauge, but reduce the number of cast on stitches by one Fair Isle repeat to get nearly the right size. I’m afraid what this will mean if I do this for the sleeves as well. Will I end up with bat wings or teeny weeny tubes for sleeves?

2. Try knitting on size 2.75mm needles. Think circular toothpicks. One of my co-workers brought in me in a set of old steel needles on wire cables. She inherited them from her mom. Hopefully her mother’s talented knitting spirits will come through those needles and I’ll be on my way.

These are some of the pre-felted roses of all sizes and leaves for my flower basket bag. Go on over to the knit along site of you’d like more info. I’ve recently posted three times about my adaptation of the pattern to knitting in the round.

Have a good weekend. Happy Victoria Day  weekend to all in Canada.