It's Just Because I Don't Like the Rolled Neck

A few nights ago I was working on the Green Gable sweater, and I was getting really close to the point where I could take it off the needles and try it on. This was exciting. I'd read online about how the fit is strange, and most people end up tearing it out and starting over with a smaller size, but mine wasn't looking too big. It was, however, looking a little on the short side. It's made from the top down, which I've heard is a great way to make a sweater because you can try it on as you go (as opposed to making one from the bottom hem, where you'd just have a tube, and by the time you get to the shoulders, you're almost done, and ripping out is far more painful.) So I'm knitting away, watching movies and being generally pretty happy with the way things are turning out, and I decide to measure the gauge again. And it's not right. Not even close.

And before you ask, and then taunt me, yes, I did make a swatch before I started, and yes, I was getting the 5 stitches/inch that the pattern calls for. But you know what I didn't measure? Row gauge. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I've NEVER measured my row gauge, because it doesn't matter, right? If I need 5 inches of knitted fabric, I knit 5 inches, and it doesn't matter how many rows it takes to get there.

So, here's the thing, THIS sweater is made from the top, and you increase the number of stitches you've got as you knit, so that as the fabric gets longer, it also gets wider (or, if you want to look at it the other way, as it gets wider, it gets longer). So imagine that you start with a neckline of 20 inches or so, and you want to increase to a chest of 40 inches. Then over the 10 or so vertical inches between shoulders and chest (the rows), you need to increase 20 inches around (the stitches). Sure. I know this. This makes sense. This isn't hard.

So, does it matter that the pattern calls for 7 rows per inch, and I had 9? Each row for me is 1/9th of an inch, instead of 1/7th. Over one row, this doesn't matter. Over 73? It seemed to be getting wider at the right rate. Hmmmm.



I kept knitting, knowing that my row gauge was off, and hoping it didn't matter. Ahem. That brown thing behind the knitting is an ordinary Old Navy t-shirt. The knitting was done, as far as the pattern went, to the armpits. So if I were to wear the knit piece I'd surely cut of circulation to my hands by strangling all the arteries that pass through my armpits. And since I'm pretty sure that all the arteries that run down to my hands pass near my armpits, this might be a problem. Crap.

So, why not keep knitting and make it a little longer? Or, like 2 inches longer? Well, I was at the "right" number of stitches for the body, so if I kept increasing (to keep that nice diagonal seam going), the body would be about 5 inches too big. And that's significant. Look, I really thought about this. I wondered about doing some decreases next to the increases, so the fabric would get longer (because more rows = longer) and not wider (because the number of stitches would be the same.) I wondered about whether I really need circulation to my hands, or if it's something that would be nice. I wondered if I cared about having a top that was too big.

Also, I didn't like the way the neckline rolled. It needed something to make it lie flatter.

Also, when I was thinking about how much I disliked the rolling neckline, I did some more measuring. I was not getting 5 stitches to the inch. I was getting 6. That's nonsense. Like I said, I did a swatch. It was ok. I called John over to have him measure, and he, too, got 6 to the inch. So the 220 stitches for the chest was meant to be 44 inches, but was really about 36. That's a LOT of negative ease. That's a REALLY tight sweater. That's a sweater that won't fit my skinniest friend (even if she had VERY shallow armpits). That makes the ripping out decision really easy.

Plus, the rolling neck was really unattractive.

Armed with a pen, a calculator, paper, and other implements of destruction, I did the math to make the same sweater but at a totally different gauge of yarn than what's called for (so the pattern is now useless, since I've had to get all the numbers on my own.) But it should fit. And amazingly, I managed all of this without a single utterance of the F-word.

Then I unwound the sweater. It mocks my mad math skillz. And my inattention to detail.