My previous post about unfinished sweaters has gotten me thinking about all the terrible things that have happened to my knitting projects. I love a gory, savage knitting horror story. Everyone has them – terrible things happen to knitters. I’d like to share a few of my own, hopefully to prompt you all to share your ghastly accounts. My students have heard all these before; I make it a point to share these tales with others, not only to work through my own grief, but so everyone knows these things happen.
Here’s the first one that ever happened to me, ever. Not surprisingly, it’s about a sweater. I was a junior in college, embarking on my first sweater. The pattern I selected was the Wonderful Wallaby, limitless in its wearability. Hood, pocket, perfection. I painstakingly selected a bluish-green worsted weight Green Mountain Spinnery wool. Selecting the yarn was nearly impossible. Needless to say, I was a poor college student, and my local yarn shop, Cityside Yarn Co in Bangor, Maine, had a ridiculous amount of worsted weight yarn. Did I want 100% wool? Single ply? What color? How much could I really afford to spend? Since I really couldn’t afford to spend anything, I selected a yarn that was on the pricier side but was on sale. I balled up one skein, tucked the rest away, and started work on it. I moved through that first ball of yarn and went searching for the rest. They were never to be found. A frantic search of my tiny dorm room ensued, nothing short of digging through the communal trash room in my university dormitory. Alas, I had no money to replace the yarn, and the store had stopped carrying Green Mountain Spinnery anyway. The wallaby never came to fruition.
Here’s another tale of terror – another sweater story, if you couldn’t guess. I knit a tiny toddler sweater out of a dusty pink Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. Soft, beautiful, and to increase the cute quotient, the pattern called for intarsia bunnies. I don’t know what happened exactly, but I pulled a comparable weight skein of white yarn from my stash, and worked the bunnies in. Then it came time to block the sweater. I’m not sure why, but I decided to experiment with steaming as a means of blocking. I have to say, I was not a fan. The steaming didn’t alter the stitches enough. So, I started innocently pressing a little bit. No big deal, you can press cashmere and wool endlessly. Unfortunately, the skein I had selected for the adorable little bunnies was acrylic. It melted and charred upon contact with the iron. I don’t even know how acrylic yarn found its way into my stash, but it never will again. I reluctantly gave the sweater to its recipient, burnt bunny asses and all.
Alright, I have bared my soul, now it is your turn. Lets hear your knitting disasters!
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2 comments:
ok. A few months ago I was making a shrug. In a sassy yellow. I had used the pattern previously and it came out looking great. I worked tirelessly on it. I finally finished and went to put it on...only to have one side normal and the other side barely covering my boob. What gives, I think. I still have no idea what happened but it was tragic.
Oh, I have a couple!
So, I fell in love with this neat pattern from Loop-d-Loop and decided to make it since it said 'Beginner' and it was only my second sweater ever. I made it out of this nasty, red acrylic, but it was cheap and I had it at hand. The sweater turned out ok, but it was a little short for some reason. Many sweaters later, I decided to try again with better yarn and more knitting knowledge. Apparently, the pattern is not made for people with boobs because once room is made for those, the sweater is practically a crop top.
Another is a similarly sad story...and so very recent :(. I was knitting a dress from 'Fitted Knits' and I loved the yarn, loved the dress pattern, was knitting the smallest size in the pattern...everything seemed to be going well! So I get to where I can actually try on the dress (cast off the hem...knit from the top down, so it took TIME) only to find that the dress fit HORRIBLY! It was meant for someone at least 3" taller and the narrow, embelleshed waist fit me at a point where I looked at least 5lbs heavier than I am. So now, the entire project has to be frogged :(.
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