Ready to Cry with Pinwheel Sleeve Frustration
Okay, so I think this was maybe an overly ambitious project for a beginner knitter, even if I have been crocheting for a while. I thought I was doing so well. I got someone at a yarn store to talk me through the whole provisional cast-on / waste yarn sleeve thing, and I think we did it right, although she looked sort of confused by the pattern.
But now that I’ve finished the rest of the sweater (it looks so pretty) and am ready to do the sleeves, I’m totally confused. I’ve knit three rows so far, and have two problems:
a) I seem to be getting purl bumps on the outside. Does that mean I’m knitting in the wrong direction or something? Should I just rip out those three rows?
b) But more seriously, I have NO IDEA how to get ride of the waste yarn. If I just pick it out, won’t that leave a bunch of live loops underneath? How do I connect that to the body of the sweater? WHERE do I connect it? So very very very confused. :-(
Here is the pattern.
And here are photos of my pitiful sleeves:
Help?
But now that I’ve finished the rest of the sweater (it looks so pretty) and am ready to do the sleeves, I’m totally confused. I’ve knit three rows so far, and have two problems:
a) I seem to be getting purl bumps on the outside. Does that mean I’m knitting in the wrong direction or something? Should I just rip out those three rows?
b) But more seriously, I have NO IDEA how to get ride of the waste yarn. If I just pick it out, won’t that leave a bunch of live loops underneath? How do I connect that to the body of the sweater? WHERE do I connect it? So very very very confused. :-(
Here is the pattern.
And here are photos of my pitiful sleeves:
Help?
posted by Mary Anne Mohanraj at 7:29 PM
5 Comments:
Sorry but you need to rip. You're probably knitting on the inside of the tube instead of the outside. In other words, when knitting the idle needles are in front right now and they should be in back.
Re: the waste yarn. Before you started the sleeve it looked like an odd partial stripe in the middle of your jacket right? That stripe held the old stitches (toward the center of the circle) and the new stitches (toward the outside of the circle). Both sets of stitchs, inside and out, form the base of the sleeve. Once you've placed all of those stitches onto your DPNs you can remove the waste yarn. All the 'live' stitches should be on needles. If any 'live' stitches are still only on the waste yarn and not on a needle you'll need to scoop those up before you restart knitting the sleeve.
Okie, I get the purl thing, and I'm okay with ripping and redoing.
But still confused on the waste yarn. If you look at my first photo, I think you can see? The eighteen pink stitches are actually attached to the garment -- the red waste stitches aren't attached to anything; they're just on the needle. Did I do that wrong originally? Should they have been attached to the garment from the beginning?
I'm going to rip out now, and see whether it makes more sense to me once I get back to the waste yarn stage. :-(
Hmm - I've made the pinwheel, but it's been a year. Can't actually tell from your picture what's going on. :( And don't feel bad - as I'm rereading the pattern, it's abysmally written at that point.
Are you doing the kid's sweater? Your sleeve will be 36 stitches. There will be a weird spot that you'll have to fix when you're darning in ends. It's too late now (I discovered it too late, too), but this would be a better way to do the armhole.
If you're on Ravelry, I have a few notes on the pattern (not a lot!). Wait... you ARE on Ravelry, because I see you just posted to the Pinwheel group! I think they'll be able to help more. Good luck!
It is not too ambitious for a beginning knitter - it's just crappily written. (Have you ever read Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears? Best book I ever read as a beginning knitter. Highly recommended.
Yes, I WISH I'd seen the afterthought heel (which I already know how to do!) before I tried the pattern suggestion.
I did post to the Ravelry group, so maybe someone there can help clear up my confusion. I do have the 36 stitches, but half of them don't seem to be attached to anything. :-(
I don't have the Zimmerman; maybe I need to pick that up.
For what it's worth, when I picked out the waste yarn, it left 18 live loops -- I ended up sewing that into the body, since there didn't seem to be any other options. It looks okay, and I think it'll work for a kid's arm, but that half of the armhole has no give to it, which doesn't seem right. Sigh.
Post a Comment
<< Home