My birthday was pretty swell, if I say so myself, and I promise I'll do a post to show you the haul (it's pretty good), but apparently one of my presents is delayed, so I'm going to wait until my birthday is really complete before telling you all about it. Besides, who wants to hear about boring things like birthdays when I have a fantastic gauge disaster to share?
I rarely swatch. I know, I know. I tell everyone to Always Swatch Every Time Ever, but I really don't. I swatch for designs, and I swatch for really fitted sweaters, but most of what I wear is loose and drapey, so I figure that swatching is mostly optional.
I didn't swatch for Havina because it's a shawl. Seriously, how off can my gauge be? (Hint: really off.) Anyway, I loved the pattern and cast on willy nilly. Loved every second of it. Then when I got through 18 of the 25 body repeats I had a niggling thought. "This isn't going to be as big as the sample," I said to myself. I tried to convince myself that it would be fine, but as fortune had it, my gauge measure was right next to me and I checked quick.
As written, Havina should have 20 stitches to 4 inches, or 5 stitches to 1 inch. I had 7.5. Seven and a half. If I kept going, my shawl would have been way smaller than the sample, and I really wanted a nice big shawl that I could wrap twice around me. I knew right away that I had to frog it, that it was too big a discrepancy to let go, but I tried to convince myself I was wrong. I measured at least 10 times, and I rinsed a corner of the shawl to see if it grew at all. No dice. I poured myself a drink, to see if that changed anything. Nope.
I frogged it, no tears. Then I re-skeined it and set it to soak to get the kinks out. Fortunately, the pattern calls for two balls, and I had the second one all wound and ready to go, so I could start again right away.
But it still hurts.
I rarely swatch. I know, I know. I tell everyone to Always Swatch Every Time Ever, but I really don't. I swatch for designs, and I swatch for really fitted sweaters, but most of what I wear is loose and drapey, so I figure that swatching is mostly optional.
As written, Havina should have 20 stitches to 4 inches, or 5 stitches to 1 inch. I had 7.5. Seven and a half. If I kept going, my shawl would have been way smaller than the sample, and I really wanted a nice big shawl that I could wrap twice around me. I knew right away that I had to frog it, that it was too big a discrepancy to let go, but I tried to convince myself I was wrong. I measured at least 10 times, and I rinsed a corner of the shawl to see if it grew at all. No dice. I poured myself a drink, to see if that changed anything. Nope.
But it still hurts.
(So far it's much better this time around. Lovely and squishy-before it was too dense to really drape the way a shawl ought to.)
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