Hang Me By My Magic Loop

Magic loop, you say? So awesome, you say?

So far, I am not a big fan of magic loop. I don't know if it's the really small circumference of the work (36 stitches) or the large size of the needles (US 9), but magic looping the sleeves on the Pinwheel Sweater has been wearing my last nerve.

So I did what any wise woman would do. I brought the work to knitting night and asked if I was doing magic loop the right way (I am). I then commented that my problem was trying to drag the inactive stitches back onto the needle part when I transitioned from one side to the next. As I said that, someone commented I was knitting really tight.

I never knit tight. I almost always have to go down at least one needle size because I knit so loosely. But when I heard that comment and checked my gauge against the rest of the sweater, I could see it was way tighter than the rest of the garment.

One of the ladies suggested "You'll have to rip it back and reknit it with a larger needle." I replied" Hell no, I'm not doing that!"

I went home and proceeded to knit the rest of the stockinette portion of the sleeve, and then started on the ribbed portion, paying careful attention to keeping my gauge loose. You know what? The knitting went a lot smoother when I didn't have to struggle to drag those tight little stitches onto the needle each time. Am I now in love with magic looping? No, but I loathe it a little less than before.

I have about 4 inches left on the sleeve. This morning, I tried the coat on my daughter because I was worried about how tight the sleeve looked in the upper arm (where I knit so tight it looks like chain mail). Lily said "I think this sleeve is TOO SMALL!" She's right.

Soooooooo...long story short, I will be ripping that sleeve all the way back today and reknitting it while paying much closer attention to my gauge. I'm also going to pick up a couple of stitches where the yarnover holes are, because one of them is huge and needs to be tightened up. So that will give me a little more room in the sleeve. I hate ripping back, but I can't finish a sweater with such tight sleeves, even if they will probably fit my niece. I want her to be able to wear this sweater for a couple of years.

In more positive news, I crocheted an edging on the jacket and it looks really pretty. I just did 5 double crochets into one stitch, chain two, skip a stitch, single crochet into the next stitch, chain two, skip a stitch all the way around the edge. It looks nice on both sides, so it will be fine when the jacket edge is flipped over to make the shawl collar. I think I will edge the sleeves the same way, even though the pattern doesn't call for it.

If I have the energy, I'm pretty sure I can finish up the jacket by tomorrow, leaving me free to finally cast on the Entrelac Bag. I'm really looking forward to hat project. I think it will be pretty quick. I continue to plod along with the DNA scarf. It would go much more quickly if I would stop losing my way in the chart. Yes, I am using a post-it as a marker, but I still manage to move it or forget to move it enough to screw up every 10 rows or so. I've finished 2 repeats and the pattern calls for 5 per side. I think I'm going to drop a repeat on each side to save myself some time. I really like how the DNA cabling is turning out, though.