Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Some more frustration

Durmstrang is going great except I'm not happy with the fit.  First of all, they are going to be too long if I follow the pattern exactly, so I decided to end the pattern on the back (before starting the heel) at round 115 or so instead of 127.  I also felt the part around the ankle was too baggy, so I switched from size 2 to size 1 needles at around round 99.  Now it's hard to get the very bottom part (knitted at size 1) over my heel.

I made some other minor changes, like not doing the chevron stripes on the heel, mainly because I hate purling with my left hand which I have to do with a two-color heel.  I thought afterward that a heart on the heel might be cute.  It would require less purling in two colors, but I don't really know how to do the Philospher's Wool wrapping thing with purling, not that I have even tried. Anyway, I don't know how I feel about the plain heel, but I got that done and turned.  I started working the gusset, switching back to size 2 needles, but realized after about 2 rounds that I hadn't switched all the needles, so I was knitting half size 2 and half size 1.

I got really annoyed at that point and decided maybe I want to be insane and start over.  I started measuring for gauge (nothing like waiting until you're 75% done with the first knee sock for that, right?), and realized that I really should be using a 1.5 needle.  The 2's are off by one stitch in both round and stitch gauge (1 stitch less than gauge, making it slightly bigger than projected), and the 1's are off by 1 stitch too many, making it smaller than it should.  So now I'm thinking I might just scrap it and start all over after buying a pair of size 1.5 needles.  I keep saying I need to get them anyway.

It's about the knitting more than the finishing for me anyway, so even though I have done a ton of work on these, I can still start over.  I'd rather be happy with them than just rush to finish.  Anyway, here they are so far:

One side decrease panel and the back panel (other side and front are the same):


The back or front as it would look on, with the two side panels showing:


It's a lot of work to start all over on, but I really think I am going to.  I'm just not thrilled with the fit at this point, and it's not like it's going to get better if I leave them as is.  

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