Big Day

It was a big day, today. See?

My Volvo and I passed 40,000 miles. (Please note that I was at a complete standstill when I took this photo.) This might not sound like a big number for a car that's going to be 6 years old in December, but . .. well, it took me 5.75 years to get here, so we're pretty pleased with ourselves.

And then, oh yeah, I saw my best and oldest friend today. This is the one who lives in California and that I only get to see a couple times a year, so that's always a treat. I had taken the day off from work as a "recuperating" day from my fun and busy weekend, but ended up not resting at all. I drove up to Hackettstown (about 45 minutes away) to pick her up from her brother's house and then we spent the day shopping, drinking coffee, and talking about everything under the sun. In a bout of academic back-stabbing, her contract with Stanford--where she's taught for 10 years--was not renewed for this year and she only found out two weeks ago, so she's going through some . . . interesting . . . stuff, career-wise. BUT on the plus side, she's got a film showing at the Berkley Film Festival next month, which I think is fabulous (both the film itself and the film festival entry).

Of course, this means that I haven't relaxed at all today and that I've had four busy, fun, sociable days in a row, following a really busy week at work last week, so tomorrow could be interesting! I mean, I was so tired tonight, I didn't even KNIT.

Although, part of that is because I'm too tired to do math tonight.

Why math, you ask?

Well, as usual, my gauge is completely bizarre, and true to form, my row-gauge on Autumn Rose is way, way off. I've got the ribbing and 47 rows done and the sweater is about 8.5" long . . . meaning I'm getting about 25 rows to 4" rather than the 32 called for in the pattern.

This isn't exactly a PROBLEM, per se, but it is definitely something that needs addressing. As in, obviously, I'm going to need to rework some things. Like, say, the entire layout/chart of the sweater. And the sleeve, too. And the raglan shaping.

On the plus side, it means the sweater's going to be done that much sooner, huh? I mean, a 23" sweater at 8 rows to an inch is 184 rows. But at only 6.25 rows to an inch, that's 144 rows, which means the whole thing will go faster. Weird, though, that it's so very different from my gauge swatch. Well, at least, it will once I've recalculated all the shaping on my handy-dandy excel chart....

Which, unfortunately, I'm too tired to think about tonight. But, still, no matter what the gauge, it sure is pretty . . .

Comments

[michelle]

It sure is! I hate how swatches lie, gets me every time.

[claudia]

Well, now that's a bitch. Usually for me its the opposite: compressed row gauge. Good luck with the re-write.

[Laura]

If you ask the Yarn Harlot about gauge swatches she'll tell you they lie. I think she's right.

[Judy H.]

Now, see, this is why I don't knit swatches. I can't knit an accurate swatch to save my life. I just head into each project philosophically prepared to rip. One question: Did you swatch in the round? 'Cuz most people knit and purl at different tensions, *especially* when you throw in something like stranding, which is icky to do in purl rows. So if you purled on your swatch but not in your sweater ... different gauges.

Now, one solution that can help slightly is to plan on pulling the sweater out width-wise when you block, which would tighten up the row tension. Not enough to compensate for your different gauge, but a little.

[Silvia]

It looks great - good luck with the re-design. And I like your idea of trying it on :).
I'm already looking for a pillow 'my size'.

[Jennifer]

The sweater is beautiful! I wonder if you ended up knitting more tightly on the sweater than on the swatch? I did the opposite on mine. Either way it will be gorgeous.

Wow! 40K in 6 years. I think the average is 15K per year, so you're way ahead of the curve.

[JessaLu]

How frustrating - that's a 40ish row difference in the length of the sweater! (see! I can do math before coffee! heh) Maybe you'll luck out and that will be the exact number of rows in a pattern repeat...? Maybe?

Oh and swatches definitely lie - which is why I went with a sleeve swatch...hopefully since it's a 'sleeve' it won't lie. We'll see. ;o)

[Kim]

I can never bring myself to measure gauge once I've started the sweater. It's too scary. Autumn Rose is so pretty and so autumny.

[paula]

Yes, wonder why I had to knit Samus three times. :) Autumn Rose is still gorgeos. My Accord will be three in November and I have 51,000 miles.

[Marcia Cooke]

My car just hit four years old and 27,000 miles! Can't help you with the math.

[Risa]

My car is a month shy of its first birthday and I just rolled 6k on it. Needless to say I don't worry about mileage limitations on leases ;)

Autumn Rose is coming out nicely. Have fun with the math :)

[Beth S.]

Heh. I grew up in Hackettspatch! Small world. ;-)

Autumn Rose is beautiful--I hope you can make her behave. Though better a row gauge problem than a stitch gauge one, right?...

[Deborah]

Autumn Rose is looking so good! I have yet to do a swatch where the row and stitch counts comes out correctly. Usually one or the other is off. Good luck!

[lisa]

I sure hope your friend has lots of wonderful oportunities put before her, sounds like at least a couple have shown up. I had an old saab (well I had 2 old saabs) that made moon miles, 126,000 at which point the odometer decided to work intermitently. You need a simple project to work on when your very lovely sweater becomes a challenge!

[jessie]

Congrats on your mileage. It took me almost 4 years to go as far and people thought that was impressive. They didn't know you.

The sweater thing is a bummer and it's just another reason why you are brave and I'm a chicken. (I wouldn't have the patience for such a lovely but intricate project to begin with.) Carry on; you'll fix it.

[Kristi aka Fiber Fool]

Sounds like a fun time. I'm sorry to hear about your friend's career woes though. That always sucks.

Gauge... *sigh* I'm doing a huge gauge for my Norwegian Boatneck sweater and I think it is a good thing as I'm pretty sure my gauge has been changing. I'm concerned about the row gauge I'm getting as well. The stitches seem sooo long. I like the fabric at this gauge though and would hate to go down a needle size. We'll have to see though what it looks like after I wash it.

I don't suppose your issue from the swatch to the current sts on the needles is a wash vs. unwashed issue is it?

[Jessica]

Wow. I used to drive 40,000 in one year without thinking. Then again, I went to college 8 hours from home. Good luck with the math stuff. It's beautiful so far for sure!

[Lorette]

Swatches do lie. It will be gorgeous, though, so no doubt worth the math.
That Volvo is just a babe. My husband's Volvo, (aka the dogmobile) has 170,000 miles. We take it to an independent shop where the guy's one mission in life is to keep old Volvos running into the 300,000's.