What a Life!

What’s wrong with this picture?

(You need not be a knitter to see it, though you probably need to be a knitter to diagnose it.)

That’s right – the stripes don’t line up. Why? Inconsistent tension. Aka gauge. The g-word.

These are the two front halves of the little cardigan I’m making Joey.

The yarn is cotton, which means no forgiveness. Wool gives a little so slight changes in tension can pass by unnoticed. Cotton doesn’t give at all, so slight changes in tension glare at you. […though the degree of difference in tension between these two pieces might be noticable in wool too…]

I knit the first one Labor Day weekend. The second one last Saturday morning. What I was so up tight about I do not know. Perhaps getting it done and off my needles? Again, dunno.

But the truth of the matter is this: the smaller one will have to be re-knit. There’s no blocking the differences out of this one. It’s gotta be redone.

I must admit, while I love the colors of the yarn, I’m not crazy about the fabric this yarn creates. It’s rather stiff, even though I’m knitting it exactly at the gauge printed on the label (that is, when I’m not too tense). I’m not that crazy about how the stripes look as a whole either. Add to that the disaster above, I’m ready to have this project off my needles. [I’m also thinking I won’t be buying any 100% mercerized cotton any time soon either. Just saying is all…]

In the meantime, I did work on the back. And after each stripe, I obsessively laid the correct version of the front up against it in order to ensure that the stripes were the same width. They are. Thank goodness.

Now just two sleeves – and a third front – to go.

P.S. Only 5422 ahead of me in line over at Ravelry.