Wednesday, August 8, 2007

This is proving to be harder than I thought:

So, I promised my friend that I would knit her a wedding garter. I really want to do this for her, and I found a nice, simple pattern -it looks like this:


No problem, Right? Well, here's the thing: gauge. It's supposed to be knit in size 40 thread on size 00 needles. Size 40 thread is, like, SEWING THREAD apparently, and I have only size 0 needles, and no money for another pair. So I search around my town for some sort of heavier weight thread, because Addi Turbos aren't all that sharp (in my opinion),and there's no knitting sewing thread with size 0's, and of course no one has anything. I worked up a swatch in pattern with size 5 pearl cotton tonight, and it's way too dense. So I've ordered some #20 crochet cotton, and maybe that'll do the trick. I know nothing about crochet, so we'll see what happens. I feel like I'm always trying to improvise with my knitting all the damn time -mostly by switching out expensive yarns and trying to get gauge for patterns any way I can. It doesn't help that I'm a tight knitter, either. Lots of things don't end up working out for me. Big surprise. I don't think I'm the only one with this problem. I knit constantly, and could never afford my habit if I bought yarn from, say, Colinette, or Debbie Bliss -lovely as they are.
The other thing is that the pattern also requires a little bit of sewing. -Not my strong suit. Oh, also this wedding is in about a month. I'll need to rustle up some nice ribbon and bias tape, too, in a place with no sewing or craft supply stores. I really want this to be nice, though. I'll make it happen somehow, because this is a really deserving friend.

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