Friday, February 23, 2007

Quick, Advice!?!?!?

Dear friends,

Can you help me make a quick knitting decision --

I knit the LUVELY lace sock #1 and adore how it turned out. However, I realized when I was knitting it that my gauge was a little loose. I was daunted by the lace stitches with such fine yarn (OK, Julie, it's not nearly as fine as yours, but I'm not such a glutton for punishment) on such tiny needles (2.0mm). I kept plugging along, and really, the sock fits well. It's loose, but it fits well. The stitches say, "We're a little shy, but here we are. We're pretty in our own right, and look, we're finished!"

Now I'm knitting sock #2, and my gauge is much better. My stitches are more "confident" -- strong and firm (not too tight), well formed and pretty. They stand up in attention and say, "We're here! We deserve to be looked at!"

I tried on both socks, and sure enough #1 is looser. It actually fits well, but the stitches are flabby. Mind you, it looks good to me, but compared to #2, the stitches are definitely looser. #2 is possibly even a little too tight on my leg (at least in the top band), but I love how uniform and pretty the stitches are.

This is my project in which I decided to dedicate myself to getting it right. No short cuts.

So my question is --

Do I reknit #1 so it's tighter?
Do I reknit #2 so it's looser?
Do I simply knit #2 as is and try to stretch out the top a little bit?

What should I do, community?

XO
Rae

5 comments:

Netter said...

I think re-working 2 to be looser. Has 1 been washed?

Rae said...

Hm. Washing. What a concept. I should wash #1 to see if it draws in. But then I wonder if #1 draws in if #2 would draw in even more.

I'm leaning towards knitting #2 looser if only because I actually like the way #1 fits. I'm only about 70 rows into it (1/4 of the way), so I'm not too bummed about it.

Anonymous said...

Depending on my mood, I'd either unravel the first and re-knit it, or try to shrink it in the dryer after washing (assuming it's not superwash).

When it comes to socks, they fit tightly to your feet, which are in reality always two different sizes, so I wouldn't sweat it that much if both socks actually fit.

After twenty years of lace knitting and that doily on 0000 needles last year, socks seem like a huge gauge. Haha.

-Julie, having issues with Blogger. Again.

Saren Johnson said...

It's not that uncommon for my second sock to be tighter because I'm used the pattern. By the end of the day, both socks are looser. So the main question is, can you live with one looser. If your only 70 rows into it, then frog it.

Amy Lane said...

yeah...I might frog # 2--for one thing less work to re-do. You must show it--I'm dying to see!