This damn cardigan (part 2)

So, this cardigan has been in the works for a while. I bought the yarn back in December 2013. I was a first year PhD student going back to Plymouth to collect some things from my ex, and since there was a rather good yarn shop, I stopped in a bought 2 sweaters worth of yarn.

I duly swatched, and cast on for my sleeves, in case my swatch was lying to me (they usually do, but whatever is going on with this cardigan, it’s a darn sight more interesting than a simple lie.) I started my first sleeve last July, almost a year ago now.

After finishing both sleeves, I realised that something really dodgy was going on with my gauge. The first sleeve was too small, but the second one was fine, so I just decided to ignore it for the time being, and get on with the body.

I decided to knit the body all in one piece, rather than doing the back and two sides separately, and then seaming.

Well, I have good news and bad news. The body of the cardigan is finished. I haven’t blocked it yet or anything (the sleeves are attached by safety pins), which is the good news. It’s very fitted, but I’m hoping to gain some ease with blocking. And it’s wool, I won’t need layers on underneath!

And then, I got back on with making another sleeve. I found the right chart, and started knitting. The stopped, looked at what I was making, and at the sleeves. Knitted a bit more, and looked a bit more. Decided to check that this was going to work, and lined everything up. Nope. Not going to work. Not one little bit.

This sleeve is considerably too big. Either that, or both my other sleeves are too small. What on earth is going on with my gauge? It seems to be doing whatever it wants. *sigh* (I also can’t photograph this colour to save my life. It’s a gorgeous purple with flecks of other colours. I’m thinking that when it’s made, I’ll take some photos outside and hopefully that will help)

But anyway. Back to the main problem. My plan is to block everything (including the sleeve currently on the needles), and then figure out what needs doing. Unfortunately, that means I need to wait until September because the blocking mats are in Uni and I can’t get hold of them until then. *sigh* I guess I should get on with Christmas presents until then!