Tue 17 Aug 2010
You may (or may not) remember that I have been working on an endless sleeve. I haven’t blogged about it much because it is, after all, endless and doesn’t make for exciting blog fodder.
A while back, I stopped to measure, groaned in despair, and then decided to just buckle down and knit.
Tonight, it looked like there was a shadow of a chance that it was getting close to time to decrease for the wrists.
I pulled out the sweater that I’m using as a guide, since there is no trying on of this garment.
The endless sleeve is now too long.
I think somewhere between the first optimistic measuring and the current too-long-ness, I forgot one crucial fact. This isn’t a set in sleeve. This is going to be grafted onto a top-down raglan. Yes, the underseam is still a staggering 23 inches long, but it isn’t quite the usual 34 inches from shoulder seam to cuff.
That means that the decreases start sooner, and they happen faster. That means that my too-long sleeve is also more than an inch too wide at the opening, preventing me from simply pulling back a few rounds and beginning the ribbing. It means that my endless sleeve, which is suddenly also too long, needs to be pulled back so that the decreases can be worked the right way.
In recognizing that there was no end in sight, I knitted past the ending, which now means that I am not at the end, despite having past it.
I think that must violate at least a few fundamental laws of physics. Or maybe philosophy is the only thing that can handle such strange twists in logic. Either way, I see ripping in my future. And further knitting on the past-the-end endless sleeve.
Oh, I am so sorry! Those types of mistakes are a big kick in the butt. 🙂 I’m sure it’ll seem to go quicker the next time.
Oh no! Maybe your husband could bulk up through the shoulders and then the sleeves would fit! Ha. And hey – at least you weren’t knitting two at a time! :o)
Oh – and I have to tell you this. We were watching an episode of Come Dine With Me on BBC America and one of the contestants had a camper that is JUST LIKE a grown-up version of Barbie’s camper, except it wasn’t pink! It was SO COOL! I was immensely jealous.
Oy. It’s like a bad episode of Star Trek, where something goes dreadfully awry in the space-time continuum. I hate it when knitting warps the laws of physics that way…
Ouch. I think knitting has its own laws that have no respect for physics as we understand it. I wish you the best with your ripping! At least you have the comfort of knowing that, since the decreases start sooner, it should go quicker. (One hopes!)
So you don’t think you could start a trend of puffy-sleeved sweaters, a’ la Seinfeld?
I’ve done a similar move with socks and toes more times than I care to admit. I feel your pain.