Must work on IB because I don't want to say I'M LATE BECAUSE I COULDN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT HOOKERS.
I seriously don't even know how this is possible, but Personal Preferences Person at work asked me to finish a shawl for her because the buttonholes were, as buttonholes so frequently do, kicking her butt (and uh she'd forgotten how to cast off. I don't even know. I just hope I didn't give her a look like the rest of Arashi hearing Aiba's latest awesome plan) and I swear to God, that woman had somehow managed to knit so tightly on Lion Brand Homespun and aluminum needles that I had to go down from a US9 -- 5.5mm -- to a US6 -- 4.5mm -- needle to even hope to match her gauge. I just sat there and boggled at it. I was working on the edge of the tips and pulling the yarn after every stitch and holding it like it was going to run away, and I still couldn't work tightly enough.
I feel like asking her, very nicely, if her hands don't sometimes FEEL LIKE THEY ARE MADE OF PAIN AND CRAMPING when she knits for a while, because my GOD I can't even imagine.
Well, I used to knit pretty tight myself, but then I figured out how much easier and less annoying your life is when you don't try to hold the stitches on with the sheer force of your will, and well, the Pink Sweater of Doom is more or less hitting suggested gauge on needles two sizes smaller than the pattern suggests. I'm using 5mm on the mohair scarf on a pattern that suggests 6mm, and it's still three inches wider than they think it should be. (It's probably the yarn-overs, which I tend to do really wide. But still.)
She couldn't remember how much the shawl extended after the buttonhole, so I'm doing about an inch and she can deal.
I feel like asking her, very nicely, if her hands don't sometimes FEEL LIKE THEY ARE MADE OF PAIN AND CRAMPING when she knits for a while, because my GOD I can't even imagine.
Well, I used to knit pretty tight myself, but then I figured out how much easier and less annoying your life is when you don't try to hold the stitches on with the sheer force of your will, and well, the Pink Sweater of Doom is more or less hitting suggested gauge on needles two sizes smaller than the pattern suggests. I'm using 5mm on the mohair scarf on a pattern that suggests 6mm, and it's still three inches wider than they think it should be. (It's probably the yarn-overs, which I tend to do really wide. But still.)
She couldn't remember how much the shawl extended after the buttonhole, so I'm doing about an inch and she can deal.