Measure Twice – Knit Once! May 7, 2016 – Posted in: Miscellaneous

From the title of this post I am sure that many of you can already guess the gist of this story, however, let me begin from the beginning!

After 18 years of comfortably living in a borough a little west of Espace Tricot, my family and I decided that it was time to take the plunge and move into a vibrant city ?quartier? with cafés, bistros, shops, and amenities all within walking distance. It was a decision long in the making and now finally realized!

With our new place I was itching to create a calm interior design plan that included a variety of textures and functional pieces that did not overwhelm our small space and that could accommodate our friends and family. Melissa served as my sounding board with texts, photos, e-mails and phone calls crossing the border at all hours of the day and night!

Once we were settled it was time to make the really, really important decision ? what type of throw should I knit for my sofa! I drove our staff crazy for a few days going back and forth between the pattern, yarn and colourways!

Finally we all agreed on a simple garter throw since I already had a cabled one on the go which was the wrong colour, and my never ending Koigu mitered square blanket which has too many ends that I still need to sew in! We also decided that Madelinetosh Tosh Chunky was the perfect cozy yarn and “Candlewick” with a thick band of “Paper” would fit with my colour scheme.

Now with the big decisions behind me it was time to get going, and who has time to swatch?! So based on the Color Tipped Scarf Melissa knit, I loosely established my gauge on hers and got started.

As I was almost through my third skein I had that nagging feeling that the blanket would be too wide and that I would not have enough yarn to finish my project. With my trusty Shiro measuring tape in hand, I measured and re-measured on my sofa, on my table, on my floor. Then I added an extender and another cord to my Addi Click needles to get the true size and measured and re-measured with my husband?s industrial measuring tape. I calculated and re-calculated, on paper, with my calculator, on my ipad. I toyed with the idea of changing the direction of the knitting and turning it into a log cabin blanket, I went online to see if I could buy yarn from another store!

In the end there was no avoiding it, I would have to live with an odd size throw or? So just after midnight I began ripping and ripping, and here I am back on track with 25 sts less per row and ready (resigned?) to begin again! 🙂

–  Lisa