Hung Over

*sssshhhhhhhh!* stop slamming the door! uhhhhhh, ohhhhhhhh. My aching head and back and shoulders and arms and wrists.

Yes, I'm hung over. What's it to you? I overindulged this weekend. Overindulged in digging, weeding, planting, eating (a five-course luncheon yesterday! with wine! and crème brûlée! and there was an apple pie and fresh pears in the evening - and yes, for breakfast. What's it to ya?) (p.s. for the Eat Local Challenge folks, every morsel of it local food! Every morsel and every sip, including the wine. I would have gone to this thing even if it weren't, but it was extra-special that it was. It was an annual awards luncheon to honor somebody - or this year a group - who does good things environmentally for Lake Champlain.)

And there was overindulgence in knitting too. Put your hands together, please, for a completed Beth sleeve. What is that I hear? Lukewarm applause? Come on, LOUDER! Wait, STOP. Too loud. *ouch*

Oh, crap. Maybe you know something. Do you know something? Do you want to know something? Fine, if you'll stop yammering about it and close the door Q-U-I-E-T-L-Y when you leave. PLEASE! Be.quiet! Shhhhhhh, I'm HUNG.OVER. REMEMBER?

Look at that picture again. Does that sleeve look a little long to you? No? How 'bout from this angle? Still can't tell anything? How 'bout here?

I hear ya, I hear ya. The photos don't really help much, because there is nothing for perspective. How about this for perspective: Row gauge called for in pattern, 40 rows/10 cm.  Row gauge I got, 37 rows/10 cm. (and for more perspective, I'm a little on the short side)

Oh, wait, that pain in my head? Not from a hangover at all. I forgot. It's probably from the banging of it against the wall that I did last night when I realized that the completed sleeve had just been downgraded to "swatch."

As I see it, I've got a two choices:  Leave it as is and roll up the sleeves, which I seem to do with all my purchased sweaters anyway. Or rip the entire thing out and reknit it, changing the increases and decreases to every 3rd row instead of every 4th. According to my sucky math (but confirmed by my husband who is a little better at math than I am), this will be just about right. I have to let this percolate a bit, but I think we all know the right answer. Because, of course, this will affect the fit of the body as well - not just the sleeves.

This is a little bit ironic, all of it, because when I first posted the photo of the pattern, Lauren asked the question, "The sleeves look a little on the short side -- are you going to keep them that way?" And I explained to her that yes, I favor bracelet-length or 3/4 sleeves, and if they aren't, I always end up pushing or rolling them up at work. And I also said, "The model in that photo is probably very tall, so the sleeves might actually be long for me." Of course I kept on checking the stitch gauge and I was spot on. I figured if the row gauge WAS off, it would be in the other direction, since I'm a relatively tight knitter.

After finishing the sleeve swatch, I did the only thing I seem to be good for. I knit a Dulaan hat. This is truly a "scrap hat."  I picked up some small random left-over balls of Lamb's Pride bulky that various people had donated to me and knitted as far as they would go, changed colors when I ran out, and literally used as much as I could for the pompom on the top. I REALLY ran out of yarn with this one.  It'll fit a 2-4-year-old, I believe. I had originally attached (poorly, I might add) the pompom directly to the hat, but last night after Cassie laughed at it (she didn't really -- well, at least not in a MEAN way...) when she saw a preview photo of it, I detached the pompom and added a little braided cord so it flops around whimsically -- this time it's a purposeful flop and not just, you know, floppy.

The rest of today will be reserved for sulking.

Comments

[sandy]

OHMYGOD! I love your pompom! IT IS MULTICOLORED! I am smiling hysterically. I know. Most would laugh hysterically, but that would be weird, sitting here at the computer laughing out loud at a pompom. So,I'm laughing on the inside, where it counts. It makes me happy. This, by the way, is not the making fun of kind of hysterical laughter, it's the I have to have one kind. Love. The. pom. pom.
And, clearly, it's Lauren's fault about the sleeve. She cast her hex before it even began. Silly girl doesn't even know her own power.
:)
xoxo

[Lee Ann]

Somebody is going to be utterly in love with that hat. The pompom is perfect.

I'm with you on the sulking. I just unintentionally knitted a shrug for my six year old. At least it gets upgraded from swatch status...kid's good for that.

But I feel totally dimwitted and ugly-eyed...PMS times ten.

Mwah. Vermont is soon...

[Tam]

The hat is so cute, Norma! You really seem to have a knack for creating ultra cute hats. And other stuffs too.

[Teri P]

Good thing you LOVE the yarn, eh? It is mighty pretty.

Did you get all the bulbs in the ground?

[Lauren]

The people who say row gauge doesn't matter LIE. Once again I ask how could it not be included in Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns??

[Teresa C]

At least you have noticed it BEFORE you have it all seamed together and are trying it on for the first time. I'm thinking that doing all of your increases every three rows may squish them together a little too much. Maybe do some every 4, some every three? Just a thought. And do you mind increasing on a WS row? Just another thought. I'll walk quietly away now. You won't even hear the door....

[Rachel H]

Oh dear. You're absolutely due a sulk. But loving the Koigu and the way it's knitting up the way you do, there really isn't a way you're going to be happy with it if you don't start again. I hope this doesn't dampen your enthusiasm for Beth - it was so fun to see you so excited about it.

[Cara]

So I blame you, huh? Because, you know, that sleeve I told you about, that you inspired me to cast on? It's now become a swatch as well.

Sounds like a great time yesterday - hope you don't pay for it too bad today.

[Kim]

Ooohhh......hang overs are no fun (Kimtini hangover is too recent to have forgotten), but your Koigu sweater is going to be something else! I LOVE the edging that you are doing at the bottom of the long sleeve.....yup, you know the answer.....that edging is just too pretty to be turned up.

[rams]

Stop, stop, stop! You are yielding to the imperatives of perfection. Okay, granted, I fall off the horse on the other side, but surely all that's called for is ripping out the cap and however much of the arm takes you to the ideal armpit (well, you know what I mean) and reknitting the cap? NO ONE is going to look at the lower arm and think "Hmmm -- but are those the ideal proportions?" You then knit a second sleeve to match this one while you remember what you did and (you're exactly right to regard sleeves as ideal swatches) figure your body gauge from there.

Don't you dare frog that fine sleeve. Put it -- I said put it DOWN. Cast on #2 if you feel the itch...

[Nathania]

Dude, Rams is totally right. Don't frog angry. And only partial reknitting will be required. Are you counting down days yet?

[claudia]

Row gauge is the devil. Drink on.

[Cassie]

I don't see the braided cord, woman. Where's the braided cord, dammit?

(And stop complaining about frogging and reknitting. I've never heard you gush about anything the way you've been gushing about knitting with Koigu.)

[B.]

What Rams said. Frog until the sleeve length to the underarm is perfect (measure another garment that fits the way you want). Then re-knit the sleeve cap. You may need to add a bit of extra height to the cap to make up for the width you lost by starting the cap shaping sooner. I would do the back and at least one front first so you can baste a shoulder seam and see how the new sleeve cap is fitting.

The tipped edge is super.

[B.]

I just went over to ChicKnits and was reminded of another approach to your sleeve problem. You could decide where you want the cuff to start, snip a thread to unravel, and re-knit the cuff downwards. (There will be one fewer stitches than there were when you were knitting upwards.) If that would make the cuff too loose, knit a row with evenly spaced decreases before you start the ribbing. I have used this method, and it doesn't hurt a bit.

[Marcia]

I think the hat is adorable, and by the way, thanks a lot (insert sarcastic tone) for turning me onto this #@*% Republic of Tea. Just spent ANOTHER $68 on top of the original order, and I am already working on a third, not to mention thinking Christmas. You are evil.