Too loose?
I kept asking myself this question as I knit up to 10 inches of a sleeve of the cartridge rib pullover. The gauge seemed not quite right, even though I was using size 5s, two sizes smaller than the recommended 7. Maybe it’s the pattern or the yarn or me, I don’t know, but it seemed rather too airy:
So much light should not be showing through the unstretched fabric, no? So I finally acknowledged, too many inches later, that it needed to go and frogged. I’m back to the size 3 wrist section, thinking I’ll go with size 3s the whole way. I can’t believe I’m knitting a whole turtleneck in size 3. That too an all-over patterned one. Which I persuaded him he needs, when he asked for stockinette. What is wrong with me?
More seriously, I wonder if it’s the alpaca yarn that somehow doesn’t quite stick together closely in such a pattern? I wonder if wool would behave better. I’m stuck with this oxblood now (actually I quite love it, loose fibres and all), and am also tightening the gauge so that there’s no stretch or pill issues later. But I *am* worried that at this finer gauge I will need to order more, and that I won’t be done by mid-December, as I need to. Still, as they say, ??? ?? ??? ??? ??????? ???? (roughly: better safe than sorry). Plus, henceforth I’m always beginning with a sleeve. Less pain that way.
I think it’s the alpaca. I find that it has to be knitted pretty tightly. Among other things, it stretches, and it has no memory.
yes, a little web crawling has revealed that i’m not the only one with these gauge issues with 100% alpaca. Apparently the cheaper ones like Elann and Knitpicks are loosely plied, hence stretch more than commercial brands like Blue Sky. But now I’m not sure what to do: my options are double-stranding it and still sticking to size 5s (that will make it go fast and tighter) or doing it in stockinette on 3s or, good grief, 2s. What do you think? Either way, I hope they have more of this yarn and dye-lot left…
I usually start with a sleeve as my gauge swatch…that is strange that it is so open even going down a few needle sizes! Hopefully the 3’s will do the trick!
Painful as it was, I think you did the right thing in frogging it. Alpaca just has no spring to it. I like the idea of starting with sleeves–I always lose momentum by the time I get to the sleeves if I do the body first.
Plus that alpaca is really going to loosen up when you block it. It’s heavy as it is, but when it’s wet…watch out…it might grow another 3 inches. That’s what happened to my blue vest. Pretty color you’ve chosen.
Hmmm, I like the double stranding idea… but that will probably make a VERY warm sweater. Also, what I hear about alpaca is that it’s important, when blocking it, to be very careful not to stretch it, because it will not bounce back at all.
I still love the rib and the color, I have to say. And if the holes aren’t too big there’s a way in which a looser stitch can actually be warmer, I think, what with the trapping of air, or something.
I bought a ton of alpaca from Laura when she was packing up in CO, mostly in plain black and greys, and this discussion is making me think very hard about what to do with it. Hmmm.