All together now, I know you know the tune:
You add some stitches on
You pull your stitches out
In, out, in, out, shake ’em all about
You change your knitting needles
And you start again
That’s what it’s all about
Oh, the knitty-witty. Okay, time to cut the whimsy and get brutal: six days ago I took a good look at the progress I’d made on the Big Blue Slouch and admitted to myself that the fabric was looser than I wanted it to be. Partly, this was fuelled by washing my pink cardi as the final part of the finishing process and recognising that, whilst it is perfectly lovely, it would have been even lovelier knitted on a size smaller needles.
Let’s rewind. I always used to use smaller needles than the ones suggested in patterns because I didn’t get the right number of stitches to the inch unless I went down a needle size. I wasn’t aware of being a particularly loose knitter, but I must have been. Then, over the recent few years I’ve found that I do get the right gauge with the needles the pattern suggests, so I assumed that my style of knitting had tightened up over time. Now I am starting to wonder about that, because although everything seems to come out the right size, I still feel like the fabric is just a little loose. I wonder whether perhaps it is not so much my gauge which has changed, but the yarns themselves and also the effect that designers are aiming for. I know “drape” is hugely popular now – knitters want garments which feel and look looser, floppier, so yarns are made to provide this and patterns are written to take this into account. Me? I like my structure, I like my thicker fabrics, I like weight to my garments. So, gauge be damned, I’m knitting to get the fabric I want for the garment I’m making.
I’m aware that this doesn’t seem to make sense when we’re talking about a huge, oversized garment like the one I am knitting. Surely that is “loose”, surely that is “floppy” by its very nature? I would say yes to “loose” but no to “floppy”. I want the finished garment to be loose-fitting, but the knitted fabric to have a tighter, more structural composition. I’m thinking specifically about my golden cable front cardigan which is a nice thick fabric and provides a lot of structure to a pattern which could have been quite floppy in a different yarn.
As I’ve previously recorded, I started knitting my Big Blue Slouch on my new interchangeable circular needle using 3.25mm tips for the patterned hem and changing to 4mm tips for the stocking stitch body. I chose to knit the smallest size the instructions give which is for a 32-34″chest, with the finished chest measurement being 70″ (this is, without doubt, a roomy garment). Whilst I’m actually more in the 36-38″ chest arena, I didn’t feel I needed any more ease than the smallest size would provide.
Following my change of heart, I pulled out what I had knitted and started again using 3.00mm needles for the patterned hem and 3.75mm needles for the stocking stitch. I also moved up to following the instructions for the second size, allowing for the fact that my stitches will be smaller. At present, this has meant knitting on straight needles because I had only bought the two sets of tips for the interchangeable needle. I will probably knit both front pieces on straight needles, then buy the tips and cord I need before I make a start on the enormous back piece. That will definitely not fit onto straight needles. My initial experience with the interchangeable set has left me feeling that I will be happy to knit future garments completely with these once I have a better range of tips to hand.
Unfortunately, then, my week of knitting has only returned me to the exact point I was at when I began. However, I’m working now with the confidence that I’m on the right track, not only for this, but for the other garments I’m going to make in my Moordale Collection as well.
I was going to be working on socks as part of my August knitting, wasn’t I? Ha, that didn’t happen. But now September is here and socks have started to appeal to me again. I’m not entirely convinced that I like these particular socks, but I’m so close to finishing them that I need to just push on and very soon I will be casting on one of the lovely sock yarns in my stash.
With autumn waiting in the wings, I know which yarn I’m keen to cast on next.
Pam Alison Knits 
4 responses to “Oh, the knitty-witty”
I wonder how you find the time between fountain pens, knitiing, blogposts and your daily worklife. You must be a very busy person to put all this in one hat. I enjoy your posts, thanks
Actually, I’m incredibly lazy and I constantly feel I do too little whilst the time whizzes by. I do keep work and leisure very firmly segregated. Sometimes I work longer hours than I would ideally like to, but we are encouraged to have a good work-life balance in my current workplace. The knitting suffers from sporadic attention, so I’ll work hard at it for a day or so, then not pick it up for ages. The fountain pen hobby is mainly about using my collection to write my in my journal and planner. The blog is another area which is prone to fits and starts. At the moment I’ve got plenty of write about so I’m keen to write posts, but other times they will dwindle to once a fortnight or so.
Sometimes you just gotta start over…
I prefer knitting on straights but I’ve built up a reasonable collection of needle tips and cords – they really can be so convenient!
I’m quite proud that I’m finally overcoming my life-long dislike of circular needles enough to contemplate using them at all! Although I’ve only got back to the point on the cardi that I stopped at before, I can already tell that I prefer the density of the fabric this time round. It’s much closer to what I’d envisioned.