Friday, September 12, 2008

I love you, Linen. Why do you hate me?

So after my last post, I tried again with the linen hand towel, with size 5s. It seemed too... open and lacy for a hand towel. I asked StringTheory2.0 if she thought I needed to go to smaller needles. She laughed at me and said yes. Other friends pointed out that you should not be able to see through your hand towels. I gritted my teeth and frogged for the fourth time. Then I acquired a circular size 3 and tried again.

Yep, still lacy.

At this point I'm running out of lower size needles to try. I guess I could look for some 000s. StringTheory2.0 says that, since linen as a plant fiber doesn't have the memory that wool does, I'm just going to have to learn how to tighten up my tension. How do I tighten up my tension? I'm scared. Someone hold me. I have to figure out how to work with linen because I've been wanting my own Mason-Dixon After Dark Nightie for a long time and if I can't figure it out, I'm going to be stuck with a lot of yarn I can't use in my stash.

3 comments:

Kim said...

Don't try to change your tension. It'll just go back to the way it was before after a few rows, when you stop paying attention or when the beer arrives at the table. Buy more needles! Knitters always need more accouterments! If you get truly desperate, I have a size 0 circ that you can borrow indefinitely, if only just to reassure yourself, "OK, that's WAY too small. I'm not crazy." Love and hugs.

Debbie D said...

I'm with Kim, try size 1 or 0. Your tension is your tension. Sorta like how you walk. You can change it as long as you are thinking about it but it will go right back to normal when you stop thinking.

Can't remember if you knit Continental or English. My Continental (yarn in left hand) is looser than my English (yarn in right hand and you throw it) knitting.

Eve said...

Kim's right. You can't have too many needles. And your tension will change back the minute you stop thinking about it, so why drive yourself crazy about it?