Gauge and Ease Frustrations

The one thing that is starting to dawn on me is just how hard it is to estimate the amount of positive or negative ease needed in a knitted garment.

I had no idea it could be as hard as I've found it to be. My first attempt at knitting a jacket for myself ended up way too big, and I frogged it. I considered making a gift of it, but the proportions was just not flattering. Not at all what I was after.

The second attempt was the vest I made in December. This also ended up too big. This time I got the measurements right, but the fabric was too soft and elastic, which made it a couple of sizes too big anyway.

I'm halfway done with the camiknickers from the pattern I posted. I decided to knit it in the round, not realizing it would make it very hard to gauge whether it would fit, so for now it's hibernating while I'm summoning the courage to place the stitches on a string and try it on.

Finally I started on the red Miss Lemon Cardigan. This time I decided to knit it flat, and started on the back piece after swatching. I calculated gauge correctly, but when I tested the fit after 7 inches on my dressmakers dummy I discovered that it was still too loose, and had to unravel it down to the ribbing. This is starting to annoy me quite a bit. It seems I will have to knit the equivalent of a small baby blanket of the stitches I plan to use to see how the fabric behaves.

How do the rest of you knitters cope with this?

Miss Lemon

I own all the Hercule Poirot films, and watch them at regular intervals, sometimes just to drool over Miss Lemon's outfits. He has such lovely things it makes me both greedy and envious.

To alleviate this I've decided to give a go at recreating some of her things, most specifically two of her jumpers. The lovely red one that looks like a cardigan at first glance, and the black one with white polka dots. Swoon...

You can follow the red jumper project here. I'm making the pattern up as I go along, and I've settled for a broken rib pattern as the main stitch. If the jumper turns out the way I hope it will I'll post the pattern here once it's done.

The black jumper project is outlined here. Don't you just love Ravelry? Such a handy site. I haven't started on the black jumper yet, but I've found a pattern in one of my books that should give a good framework to it. The stitch will have to be altered, but the basic shape is more or less the same. For others out there with Miss Lemon envy I am posting the pattern I'll be using for the black jumper. Enjoy :)