Someone had some problems last week and it set me off on
another direction briefly…I do have all four garments done for Jan, but not the
final wash and dry, press/steam and add buttons. I left it all to the end
because of the two WCD garments – no point in laundering separately, might as
well wait and do them all together – I know, I know, you’re thinking, excuses,
excuses…I do think it’s valid procrastination!
So, anyway, this knitter, who shall remain nameless,
(actually, I’ll call her ‘Lana’) told me she used my ‘Rich Raglan’ (Serial
Stuff 2, Sep 2011) pattern and my blog from early this spring to make a 1RT (one
row tuck) raglan from WCD (wool crepe deluxe) and it turned out huge! What went
wrong?…she made a new swatch, drew a new schematic, blah, blah, blah and ended
up with this too-big disaster and was getting pretty depressed – she felt that
her machine knitting skills to this point should have been good enough to not
let this happen. ‘Lana’ has made the ‘Rich Raglan’ several times and been quite
successful, using the pattern yarn and substituting yarn so what gives? In
analyzing her bad product, she begins to blame it on my beloved 1RT… I can’t
let this happen, I feel responsible and immediately start to make a 1RT raglan,
this time for myself – the last one was for my ‘little’ sister, Jan, so
‘Lana’s’ panic starts to give me doubts as well. Did that one really fit what I
had planned or was I deluding myself?
I start at the beginning and make a new swatch – I don’t
want any come-backs on this. I choose a different 1RT pattern from what I used
in WCD previously ( from KW43, ‘caped wrapper’ – I still love
this one!) and with a pretty ‘poppy’ WCD, I make the swatch, carefully adding
appropriate weights so she can’t blame the problem on too much weight on the
garment as opposed to the swatch. I measure it immediately off the machine and
get 29 sts and 48 rows (to 10 cm/4 in.). I give it a little pressing with my
steam iron which I would normally do with my knitted pieces before assembling
and get 29 sts and 49 rows. I wash it, roll in a towel and then think, hummmm,
let’s get this show on the road, I’ll just use the hairdryer a bit to speed up
the drying ( then, I conveniently block this from my mind)…done. Measure it and
now have 29 sts and 56 rows. I proceed with that and make the back. But as I’m
making the back, force of habit makes me add my little ‘cheating at swatches’ (blogpost,
Cheating, Apr 21, 2008) yarn marks to the centre of the piece. Back done, lightly
pressed out, measure the marks and I’ve got 29 sts and 50 rows…WTH? gee, does
the tuck make that much difference and should I have let it rest before
steaming? It does look pretty big and what do you know – a tape measure to the
side seam comes up with 38 cms instead of the desired 32 cms. Huh! Reprogram my
KR11 for 50 rows and make a sleeve, adding the cheat yarn marks and what do you
know, it reads 29 sts and 50 rows after I take it off the machine. The sleeve,
left overnight before touching it with the iron is the exact measurement that I
planned. Make remaining pieces, reknit
back all at 50 rows/10 cm. Make a new swatch and let it dry naturally – 29 sts
and 50 rows. How’s that for persistence and covering all the bases!
So, I still don’t know what C – er- ‘Lana’ did wrong but
this is perfect.
I realized I have changed something from my original
pattern instructions and here it is – instead of taking the top of each piece
off on Waste Yarn – these would end up being rehung for attaching the neckband but
I’ve found it easier to Cast Off the top of each piece (after the
shortrowing is done, knit 1 row over all to get rid of the wraps, then knit a loose
row and chain cast off) – on fine (or dark coloured) yarn like this, it’s
easier to pick up the cast-off edge than try and find all those tiny, wee
stitches which sometimes escape and you later find a dropped stitch after the
band is attached…anyway, this means a slight change in finishing the neckband.
Make the band the same way as the pattern states:
Stockinette Band. Cast on WY and ravel cord. CAR. MC, T5, K10R.
T8, K1R. T5, K10R. Hang hem and remove WY. T7, K1R. Right side of band is
facing you now.
New method: Now, remove band. Hang garment
neckline, right side facing, hanging both sides of cast-off stitch. Don’t worry
about the seamed sts – they are cast off and inside the seam. Turn band and
rehang, open sts in hooks. Bring ns out carefully, leaving sts in hooks,
putting neckline behind latches. Close latches and pull through. Knit loose row
and chain cast off.
Looks
the same from the outside, has the added
protection of a double cast-off on the neckline and is easier! What could be
better! Now I
have 3 WCD garments to wash and dry together – I told you there was a valid
reason to wait!
Have you ever had someone in your life who keeps doing
the same thing over and over and it kind of bugs you for whatever reason and
you don’t know how to stop it? Now, this may sound petty but my friend loves to
give me buttons – she travels and buys them for me as a keepsake or souvenir –
and I know it’s the thought that counts but she always buys them in fives… and
they are usually like 5/8 inch and I need eight or nine buttons of that size
for a cardigan. My mother would say, ‘beggars can’t be choosers…’ or ’don’t
look a gift horse in the mouth’ (I never really got this one) but, here I am
with two perfectly nice cardigans and some perfectly nice buttons that aren’t
enough for either one. 
