working with chenille

Oh brother! Serves me right! Got a ton of Lion Brand chenille for $2 a
skein at the local Ocean State Job Lot store. Gorgeous stuff, but it's
giving me fits to work with! No, not "worming"--Sizing!

I was in Fat City while making a lovely ribbed scarf. My troubles
began when I decided to make a hat to go with it. I tried following
the free pattern at Lion Brand website for a hat using this yarn--came
out sized to fit a child even though an adult was pictured wearing it.
I have a terrible time SEEING my stitches, let alone gauging them with
this yarn. Ok. Frogged it. Started again. Used larger needles. Same
problem. Ugh. Rip rip rip. One more time....same-o. Sigh. Ended up
trashing the pattern and used size 10-1/2 DPNs to rib in the bottom,
inventing numbers out of my head to make it fit a real person for a
change. Got sick of working on the DPNs and switched to 9's circular,
picking up in the middle of a lovely beret pattern I've made before.
It seems to be coming out very nicely.

But good grief! I can't go through this every time I go to work with
the stuff! No way can I see the stitches clearly enough in chenille to
do a gauge first. Any suggestions for next time? Thanks!
Wendy

Well, the beret came out way too big. I give up! I quit on chenille
unless there are any words of wisdom out there. Sigh. Can't see the
fuzzy stitches to gauge it first.

You don't need to be able to see the stitches to check your gauge.
Cast on some stitches and knit in pattern for a few inches, counting
the rows. Compute your gauge from the finished measurements of the
entire swatch. For example, you cast on 20 stitches and knit 30 rows.
The finished swatch is 5 inches wide and 4.25 inches tall. That gives
a gauge of 20/5 = 4 sts/inch and 30/4.25 = 7 rows/inch.

This method isn't quite as accurate as measuring in the middle of a
knitted piece, since the edges tend to pull in a little, but it sure
beats guessing!

Alan

Well, the beret came out way too big. I give up! I quit on chenille
unless there are any words of wisdom out there. Sigh. Can't see the
fuzzy stitches to gauge it first.

myswendy wrote:
Well, the beret came out way too big. I give up! I quit on chenille
unless there are any words of wisdom out there. Sigh. Can't see the
fuzzy stitches to gauge it first.


Congratulations, you now have a chenille purse!
Madelaine

On Apr 10, 4:30 pm, Madelaine wrote:
myswendy wrote:
Well, the beret came out way too big. I give up! I quit on chenille
unless there are any words of wisdom out there. Sigh. Can't see the
fuzzy stitches to gauge it first.

Congratulations, you now have a chenille purse!
Madelaine

HAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! REALLY!

On Apr 10, 4:11 pm, "Alan" wrote:
You don't need to be able to see the stitches to check your gauge.
Cast on some stitches and knit in pattern for a few inches, counting
the rows. Compute your gauge from the finished measurements of the
entire swatch. For example, you cast on 20 stitches and knit 30 rows.
The finished swatch is 5 inches wide and 4.25 inches tall. That gives
a gauge of 20/5 = 4 sts/inch and 30/4.25 = 7 rows/inch.

This method isn't quite as accurate as measuring in the middle of a
knitted piece, since the edges tend to pull in a little, but it sure
beats guessing!

Alan



Well, the beret came out way too big. I give up! I quit on chenille
unless there are any words of wisdom out there. Sigh. Can't see the
fuzzy stitches to gauge it first.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Oh wow! I'm gonna print this out so I can try it. Thanks!