Gauge Matters

I gave in, I bought yarn. But I needed it!

I stopped by Knitters Nest and picked up three more balls of that Queensland Rustic Wool I used on the helmet liner, so nice and soft...I'll use to make a few more, and maybe make myself a neckwarmer.

AND! I made a decision about that Joey's Flames sweater. I hate the orange acrylic. That's it, I hate it, I can't work with it. Not only does it feel horrible to work with, but it's a different gauge than the woolease. It's bigger. And worse, it's noticeable. This squeaky orange plastic yarn look like a lumpy bumpy mess that somehow attached itself to my lovely even stockinette heather greyness that is the sleeve.

So what have I done with this decision? I bought more yarn. Lion Brand Vanna's Choice stuff, a burnt orange. It's still 100% acrylic, but it's must softer, and it feels like the same gauge as the woolease. If I'd been a smarter knitter when I started this sweater, I would have looked at gauge and laughed at the orange acrylic.

So now I've got this nicer orange acrylic to work with, and I have two and half pieces of the sweater completed. Fortunately on the front and back of the sweater, the orange is only a stripe that begins at the raglan shaping, chest high. I think I can re-work those rows without unraveling to that point, but if it comes to that then I'm okay with it. The sleeve though, that will be completely unraveled and reworked.

I figure, my brother has been waiting for a long time for this sweater. Everybody in the family who knows about it, knows he's been waiting, and they're all waiting to see the finished product. Now that I'm working on it again, I'd rather work on a product that I'm proud to finish and see in use, so I'm making it better than I knew how to then. This way, when I see Joe wearing that sweater, and see my family sees Joe wearing that sweater and comments on it. I'll be able to smile, and know I did a good job, instead of cringing at all the remembered errors and quick fixes.

Time to get on that. =)