Friday, June 6, 2014

FO: Spring-Grass Francie.

Started: May 27, 2014

Finished: June 6, 2014

Yarn/yardage used: Artyarns Ultramerino4 (discontinued), color 131, about 130 yards each

Needles: Size 1 DPNs, one set each of 4" Hiya Hiyas and 6" Knitter's Pride Nova

So.

Let me take a moment to share with you what I know of knitting theology.

There is the swatching god, who is the stereotypical trickster god: almost always full of lies, but occasionally telling the truth just to throw you off guard, for maximum amusement. There is the sock god, who for at least the past year has borne an implacable hatred of me (maybe, in true Greek heroic fashion, I forgot to make the proper sacrifices to it at some point?) And then there is the yardage god, who loves me. I always seem to finish projects in well under the yardage required. In fact, I have never, ever knit a single project and come up short on yarn (well, except that one pair of socks for Amy, but we'll attribute that to the machinations of the jealous sock god).

It took me until this pair of socks to realize that all of these are merely different faces of the same monolithic, overarching deity.

Now, I've always known that I was a tight knitter. I don't help matters by recklessly going down needle sizes in search of a more pleasing fabric. For most of what I knit (shawls and... shawls), this doesn't matter. I've kind of vaguely suspected this might have something to do with my sock troubles, but...

These socks are tight, okay. Really, really tight. I knitted them as written, with the recommended needle size. They're advertised as being able to fit a calf/ankle circumference of 10 inches, due to the stretchiness of the ribbing. My feet are size 6 and my ankle circumference is less than 8 inches. Putting these on and taking them off requires a lot of shoving and sliding and scraping and squishing.

Why is this?

The pattern calls for a gauge of 8 stitches per inch, in not-stretched-out 2x2 ribbing. I have no convenient way to measure my ribbed gauge. But my stockinette gauge is 9.5 stitches per inch.

Maybe the blocking god will magically fix everything?

8 comments:

  1. I hope they will fit better after blocking. But they're so beautiful, Kaiya. I really love the intricate design of the knitting.

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    1. Thank you! I really do love the pattern, I just wish it I could size it up better.

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  2. They are so beautiful it would be such a shame if they do not fit. I believe the knitting faeries are always messing with me, making me change gauge in the middle of a project, it never ends.
    Hugs to you,
    Meredith

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    1. I want so much for them to fit... so I might just decide that they do fit, and leave it at that. Thank you for confirming the inherent trickiness and sneakiness of gauge; it's good to know I'm not the only one afflicted!

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  3. Blocking might help. I hope they do for you because they are such neat looking socks! Is the pattern in the title? I might have to add that pattern to my queue in Ravelry.

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    1. The pattern name is Francie - I've knit it (or attempted to knit it) a few times, so spring-grass is the yarn color, to tell them apart.

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  4. I'm betting that their gauge wasn't reported or measured correctly. The technically correct way to measure gauge in ribbing is to count your stitches per inch with the fabric unstretched, then count it with the fabric stretched, and divide for an average. I found that out in the Principles of Knitting monolithic tome. I doubt many people follow the convention so it makes ribbing gauges tricksy.

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    1. Well, the gauge was actually described as "gently stretch the ribbing until it is no longer pulled in, but so the stitches are not stretched out." I have very little patience for gauge measurements, so I didn't even attempt it with my own knitting until after I was all done!

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