It's not me, it's the yarn -- really

Becky fix:

(On my honor, I did not pose this shot.)

The knitting gods have smiled upon me today. I took out the left front (the one with the wonky cables) to compare it with the right front (the one I just started the decreases on). Now, this sweater has a sort of viney cable thing with bobbles going on, and the only row you don't do either a 3CF or 3CB on is the bobble row, so it's pretty easy to keep track of where you are and make sure you're knitting the right number of rows. Imagine, then, my shock dismay horror when I saw that the left front was a good deal longer than the right front.


(I trust that even the non-knitterly among you can spot the problem.)

I counted cable crosses (though I didn't expect that to tell me anything, and was in fact surprised that they matched). I counted bobbles. I counted turns in the viney cable thing. Everything matched up. Somehow, I thought, I must have changed my gauge. But that never happens to me. I'm one of those lucky knitters with very even tension -- stitches done on the train look the same as stitches done while walking look the same as stitches done in front of the TV. I was using the same needles, the same yarn -- what the hell happened?

Of course, I didn't have an actual gauge measuring tool (aka ruler) with me, so I hied myself over to my local yarn store. Well, the one that's local to work. As the elevator doors closed on me, I thought Gee, maybe I should take the actual knitting -- the owner/knitter-who-surely-works-there might have an idea how I could fix this. So back up to the ofiice I went, and then finally to Seaport Yarn.

Let me interrupt myself here for a minute. I can't believe I have worked for 5 months (not counting maternity leave) around the corner from this yarn store and not discovered how fabulous it is. The place is stocked with the most incredible selection -- and not just high end luxury yarns, though there are plenty of those to be had, too. Want some nice Buffalo socks? Maybe Steinbach Wolle Sock Yarn is more your style. How about a little good ol' Brown Sheep? She's got it. Don't even get me started on the needle selection. And, best of all, she ("she" being the owner, Andrea) is really, really nice. She gave me a great, thorough tour of the place (necessary -- the inventory has outgrown the location, but in a good antique shop kind of way), and then when I told her I'd just come in for a gauge as I was having a problem with my fronts matching up, she offered to have a look at it (and didn't sell me the gauge). I bought nothing today, but you can bet I'll be spending my yarn allowance there in the future. I've already got my eye on some Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck. Chris, you'll be happy to know that they only take cash and checks. The American Express is safe.

Now, back to the story. So Andrea's looking, and agreeing that yes, something is definitely not quite right, and I'm explaining how I'm sure it's the same needles and I'm not doing anything different (except, hopefully, crossing the cables at the right spot) and she's fingering the yarn and suddenly she says, "This yarn's missing a ply!" Sure enough, the yarn hanging off the corner of the left front was slightly thinner than the yarn hanging off the corner of the right front. So we tore through my project bag (I've gotten lazy about moving the piece in progress to a different bag, so I had the whole thing there with me). The back matches the right front! So the only part I have to rip out is the part I was going to rip out anyhow! You may all do the happy dance with me.

posted by Laura Y. @ 1:36 PM