Ok, I just completed a shrug for Evelyn (my daughter) the other day. But, in fact, it wasn't intended for her :( I found the Shrug This pattern (from 101 One Skein Wonders) and I loved it and it was simple, and would be my first attempt at raglan sleeves. Perfect. Let's do it.
Well I decided to use some yarn that was gifted to me from my Mother in law that is absolutely fantastic. The problem was I couldn't figure out what weight it was. It came from Peru, and I guess their labeling is different, it didnt say recommended needle size or anything! It looked like it was worsted to me but I wasn't sure. But I decided to use it anyway and I cast on.
About halfway through I start realizing that maybe this will be a little snug. So I figured, "Hey no problem, if it doesn't fit me, I can always give it to_____" (my 12 year old neice). Awesome, her birthday is coming up and its perfect. So I kept going.
When I completed it, it looked small but I was like maybe I can fit into it. Well *insert buzzer here* NOPE! Too small. Then I figured wait a minute this may be too small even for my neice. So, I tried it on my daughter Evelyn who is only FIVE, and it fits her so beautifully. What happened? What in the world went wrong. So was the yarn really DK? Would it really have made that much of a difference????? I'm puzzled.... To go from supposedly fitting an adult to a 5 year old?
So what the lesson here is, and correct me if I'm wrong, is I should really check my gauge before I jump into projects. But knowing how much smaller it came out than intended, I wonder how many swatches I would have went through before getting it right? And that is why I don't do them in the first place. lol. But at least this time, I had someone to give it to.
Anywho- here it is :)- I'll have to take a picture of her in it .
9 comments:
I would have suggested doing a guage swatch as well, but I never do them. lol What you can do next time is figure out how many wraps per inch the yarn is. Take a pencil and make two marks, an inch apart from each other. Loosely wrap the yarn around the pencil (with each wrap just touching the wrap before it) until the wraps fill the 1 inch gap between the marks. Count the number of wraps there are. This is your wraps per inch, or WPI, as it's commonly referred to. You could also just wrap it around a ruler. :)
Different sources will tell you different weights, unfortunately, but as a guide, 18+ wpi is Lace, 16 wpi is Fingering, 14 wpi is sport, 12 wpi is worsted, 10 wpi is bulky, 8 or less wpi is very bulky.
LOL I'm with Katie on this one. I also recommend a gauge swatch and almost never do one. LOL I mostly use the wpi info Katie posted for weight but I put a bulky at 9 or less. 10 I call a heavy worsted.
it is very nice. shame about the size. sadly i dont swatch either... i have just gotten really good at blocking. :)
I love it though. It is adorable. I wish I had one for Serenity. MAybe I will have to look for that pattern.
I never do swatches. I just kind of go... yeah sure this will work... wonder if that is why so many things have to be restarted and fussed with... oh well.
Great job anyway and the yarn is beautiful
Thanks ladies! I never swatch because I'm usually sp excited about a new project that I wanna just jump right into it! lol
The shrug looks great! I know what you mean about swatching; it seems so time consuming. I do swatch now just because of too many ill-fits. However, I limit myself to just one swatch to figure things out because I'm really itching to get on with the knitting.
I'm not big on swatching either. If you want an adult size, you could probably cast on a little more to start the neck and then just increase the raglans farther. That's how I do my top-down sweaters, and they're easy to get the fit right if you try on as you go.
I never checked gauge but after frogging so many projects I do now.
When I am using expensive yarn I frog the swatch to use in the project.
The shrug is beautiful anyway. Now you should make another for yourself.
I struggle with doing gauge swatches but force myself to do them. I hadn't heard about the wpi thing until I read your blog and comments. Good to know. And the shrug is adorable.
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