Rainbows and Math

Hello there! How was everyone’s weekend? I had a pretty great weekend. Friday night, my roommate and I watched The Empire Strikes back since we’re reworking our way through the Star Wars movies again. Saturday I went to two virtual knitting hangouts – the first one in the morning was the group that I’ve been meeting in person with at that time for years, but now we’re on Zoom. And then at night I went to one hosted by Sarah over at Mildly Granola. It was really awesome “meeting” a few blog friends “in person.” 😀 Sunday was Mother’s Day in the US, and my sister came down from Boston. We had lunch with my parents outside in their common area then took a walk together. Even though it kind of stunk to not hug them and share food like we normally would, it was still great to get to see them, especially my sister. I hadn’t seen her since January. I also got to see my friend on Saturday, again from an appropriate distance. She was nearby (she lives about 35 minutes away) picking up fabrics to sew masks, she started a Facebook group to organize making masks for hospitals, nursing homes, etc. I’m so proud of her for all the work she has done! Anyway, she stopped by after picking them up and we chatted for a bit which was great!

The other main thing I did this weekend was knit, knit, knit! I went ahead and got started on my Love Note. I’m really liking how this is turning out. The rainbow yarn is bright and fun, but because it’s the mohair it’s not like aggressively crazy. This is my first time working with mohair, and I’m digging the fuzz factor. The whole thing feels very 80s and fun.

I was really excited to start this project, probably too much so. I didnt’ swatch, though that’s pretty normal. But then I didn’t really read the instructions?? The first time I cast on, I didn’t see that I was supposed to use the larger needles. Then, the second time I cast on, I still didn’t see it was supposed to be a provisional cast on. That’s not too big a deal as I can just pick up the stitches, it will be a bit annoying with the mohair but not impossible and will be a stronger neckline too. The bigger problem is that I cast on with the wrong size. I checked the measurement grid, but didn’t check the instructions that told me it was supposed to have 4-10 inches of positive ease. I chose a size with 2 inches of positive ease. So, it should fit, it will just be tighter than the intended pattern.

But here’s the thing – I don’t really want it to be tighter. My body shape is such that my waist/stomach is wider than my bust measurement, so while 2 inches in the bust will be alright, it would be uncomfortable in the body. Of course I didn’t realize I chose the wrong size until like 4-5 hours and a few inches in. I’ve heard bad things about frogging mohair, and I’m worried about yardage overall. So, I decided to soldier on. The pattern has raglan increases after the chart, so I decided to use those to increase to the next size up before splitting for the body.

This is where the math comes in! Because I like to plug all the stitches into Excel beforehand, it wasn’t too tough to figure out the # of sitches needed and how many rows. A few diagrams of the increases and some formulas later, and I now have instructions which should work in order to get to the next size up in the body, account for some further a-line increases once I split off the sleeves, and still have a high/low hem with similar proportions as the original pattern. Yay math! (But maybe don’t be like me and actually read the pattern before starting)

Anyone else using this time of working from home to experiment with their hand knits in new outfits? Today I wore my Swooping Scoop Top with a long sleeve shirt underneath and leggings. I couldn’t wear this to work in “normal” life but it’s fun to do it now!