Third time's a charm....I hope

Sknitter56 · 08-01-2008, 08:33 PM

This will be my third attempt at this skirt.
http://www.creativeknittingmagazine.com/pdfs/fp1may.pdf
There are 774 cast on stitches and for the life of me, I cannot seem to get this joined in the round without twisting. The first time I knitted flat for the first 9 rows, but didn't think to knit opposite on the odd rows (knit where the pattern said purl, and vice versa) so it was all wrong. The second time I tried, I cast on all the stitches on a 60" circular, slipped almost half of those to a 47" circular and stretched both cables the entire length of my dining room table, went carefully down the entire length to make sure there were no twists, walked one end of the needle down to the other end and joined in the round. Well....I've knit about 9 rows again and can tell that somewhere in my walk, the stitches got twisted because I've got a mobieus. UGH!!!! For the THIRD time I'm in the process of casting on those 774 stitches, but I think this time I will knit flat until I've decreased enough to make sure there are no twists when I join in the round. Right now...it's the principle of the thing. I refuse to let this get the best of me.

Have any of you ever been this frustrated???

Tropicflower24 · 08-02-2008, 01:40 AM

Yes, oh yes I have. LOL, more times than I care to remember.

suzeeq · 08-02-2008, 02:48 AM

I've never CO that many stitches before and would probably run if I found a pattern that did. However, some people use clothespins to hold the stitches in place so the keep facing the same direction. After you CO what you need, put a pin several sts from the first st, then make sure the next section is straight and clip on a pin, and so on until you have some stitches loose at the end of the CO. You can scrunch them up to fit the needle this way; the pins would be fairly close together, but you know the sts should be straight.

Crycket · 08-02-2008, 03:05 PM

man...and I have been going batty over something I had to cast on 136 sts on!

Sknitter56 · 08-02-2008, 03:08 PM

That's a great idea! I actually just finished casting on this morning (started yesterday...off and on). I'll try the clothes pins and try yet again. It IS a huge number of cast ons, but the decreases reduce the number by over 100 on every other row for the first 10-12 rows until you're down to a manageable number, so it's not too bad. It's just the joining in the round that's giving me the headache. I'll let you know how it works. Thank you so much!

Jan in CA · 08-02-2008, 05:16 PM

I would just knit flat for several rows. Seriously, it makes like so much easier! I don't like seaming, but it beats having to rip and repeat endlessly. I just did that for my sweater which I only cast on 170 for the body! Just remember to do the pattern right for knitting flat. Keep track of what you are doing on pencil and paper and use a lifeline and move it up as you get perfect rows.

tokmom · 08-03-2008, 03:07 PM

How pretty though! I'm sure it'll be worth it once you get those stitches to behave.
It took me 5 times to get the cast on straight for the sweet socks. I can't imagine having to c/o that many for the skirt and keep them straight.