Firstly, because I didn't have the 3mm needle the pattern recommended, but did have a 3.25mm needle I decided not to both with a gauge square - there was no way it could be too small if I'm using bigger than suggested needles. Wrong. The gauge was still a tiny bit too small. Clearly the wool I've chosen is rather different from the one the pattern recommended. However, this isn't so far out that a little gentle stretching while blocking won't sort it. Fortunately for me I was on the larger needle to start with.
So why, I asked myself, can I not wrap the material around my hips and have it fit?
Cue waving a tape measure and the pattern at Joe to see if he could see where I was going wrong - the answer came back loud and clear - you're making the wrong size!
I then spent a while looking at the pattern trying to work out where the mistake had come from as I hadn't just picked a size at random! Turns out I looked at the bust measurements at the top of the pattern and chose the size accordingly to match my bra size. Uh-uh (imagine loud buzzy noise). The bust measurements listed are the full bust size - not the under bust size. That would explain it then! Rather frustratingly I have now unravelled it and started again. I'm glad I checked everything was working before it had gone too far, and now that I'm making progress again I'm much happier than I was for the five days the whole thing sat in my knitting bag and couldn't be worked on, but its still very annoying.
Anyway, lesson learnt - a little less enthusiasm to get started, and a little more time checking the pattern doesn't go amiss. Maybe one day this lesson might sink in?!
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| Progress take two - slowly getting there! |