Wednesday, December 26, 2007

A Tomten by any other name...



I can't begin to describe the numerous mistakes I made in attempting this Tomten for my daughter but I will try and put it succinctly: bad yarn choice (do not use fine light yarn to knit sturdy sweater jacket for active toddler), got wild and decided to take EZ's advice and do my own thing (basically changed the proportions of the pattern to get right gauge--not a good idea as now I have right gauge width-wise but not length-wise), and now have a huge mystery hole where arm and jacket meet (I KNOW this has something to do with how I picked up the stitches around the armhole but for the life of me I could not fix it and I tried three times).

So I put this one aside for several weeks and started a new one for my son (see other post).  Now after giving it a good rest and thinking on it, I've come to the conclusion that I must take it apart--an agonizing decision as I am definitely one of the slowest knitters on the planet and coming this far on any garment is a real achievement for me.  But I know this is beautiful, quality yarn and would probably make a much better scarf or hat.  Any advice or comments are welcome.

I tried to post a photo of the big hole at the arm but I couldn't get blogger to cooperate.  Update:  I was able to post a photo of the hole--any advice or comments are welcome.

5 comments:

Briley said...

Amy, I don't think I am seeing the hole you are talking about. I do think, though, that you could easily sew up any holes in the sleeve join after it is done with out it being too nocticable. With the multi-coloured yarn it may be harder, but you could even do somesort of decorative stitching across the join to hide any errors.

Briley said...

Oh, I see it now. Don't know how I missed the other picture! I'm sure you can duplicate stitch over that to tighten it up and close the hole.

Amy said...

That sounds like a solution but please elaborate on duplicate stitch over?!

Thanks for comments.

Briley said...

If you own any books with basic knitting instructions look for it in the glossary. It is sometimes called swiss darning (I think). It is usually used to add colour work after knitting is completed. Yarn is thread onto a darning needle and stitched over existing stitches, following the same path that the stitches travel to appear as if it was knit in with the original work.

Also- when you are ready to knit the Tomten for your husband I highly suggest the yarn I used (cascade ecological wool) it's very lofty- so all that garter stitch doesn't end up being unbearably heavy. It's also relatively inexpensive.

Amy said...

Thanks for the info. I will look into this.

Cascade! I love it! It's my new favorite yarn and I've been buying it up every chance I get. I was actually thinking of using the 220 Heathers for the adult-size jacket--I want something that looks sort of tweedy. But the other day at my local yarn shop I was seriously considering the ecological, it's nice stuff!