Not Enough Yarn

What! You say I need six skeins of Calmer, not five. F**k.

Yesterday was a big driving day, Minneapolis to Arkansas. And we made it by 11 pm with both kids still awake. Can you believe that? In our regular world they are usually asleep by 7:30/8:00 pm, East Coast time. But this bedtime shift will make things much easier when West Coast visitors (Mike & Jenn and kids) arrive the day after we get back from our vacation. They have a later bedtime.

Anyway, it’s nice being at the in-laws; high-speed connection, peaceful home, and LOTS of space for visitors. So I finished the Branching Out Scarf sometime in Iowa. It’s lovely, but I’m so glad to be done with it. Maybe I wasn’t quite up for lace. I’m surely not the lace queen. But this pattern just kept giving me problems. I can’t tell you how many rows I had to unknit. Fortunately the last four pattern repeats went really smoothly. Here’s a weird thing that I did that I really can’t remember why. I started the scarf on size 4 needles. Then after three pattern repeats, I switched to size 6 because I wanted to see if I liked it better that way. Then I just kept going, rather than decided on the needle size and starting over. So now I had this narrower end, which I don’t love.

So it would look intentional, I switched back to size 4 needles again at the other end. It looks fine when worn around a lovely neck. I’ll post a photo once I block it.

Now that I was done with the scarf, I worked on Blaze, amazingly the only other thing I had on needles. But I was finding it challenging to work on the first row where I just went up a needle size and had to start to cable.

I really wanted to start my Nothin’ But a T-Shirt. I just love how the Calmer feels.

But I had already done two swatches and was having a hard time getting the right gauge. Size 6 wooden needles, 20 sts/4 inches. Size 7 metal needles, 18 sts/4 inches. I needed 19 sts/4 inches. Then I did a swatch on size 7 wooden needles and got 18 sts/4 inches again. When we got to rest stops and coffee shops with free Internet access, I would check out what other people were saying about their problems with getting an accurate Calmer gauge. Many people were having problems. But most found that after washing, the gauge did get smaller; how much, I do not know. So I went with the size 7 needles.

Now it was time to cast on for the back. But as I’m reading the pattern to figure out my size, I notice that the size I think I’m supposed to make, 36, actually calls for 6 skeins of the main color, not 5 as I thought. Not only am I far away from The Yarnery, I bought their last skein of the Peacock color. So that’s the dilemma. How do I deal with this?
• Do I just knit along and hope I only need 5 skeins?
• Do I make the bottom hem in the contrasting color to save MC yarn?
• Do I add a motif/words to the front in the CC to save yarn?
• Do I make shorter sleeves/shirt to save yarn?
• Do I make the smaller size and have a really fitted T-shirt?
• Do I alter the neckline to be more open to save yarn?
• Do I try to find another skein in the MC of the same dye lot?
• Do I get another skein of the MC and use that for the sleeves, hoping the difference isn’t that great?
• Any other suggestions?

What should I do?

Comments

• Works in Progress

• Archive & Search

  Select Month January 2014 December 2013 October 2013 April 2013 January 2012 February 2011 January 2011 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 February 2010 October 2009 September 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 October 2008 May 2008 April 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 January 2005
• Search for:

• Twitter

  • No public Twitter messages.

• Links

  • Mike Stays Upright, When Appropriate
  • Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child
  • WEBS – America's Yarn Store