Glade- Rowan’s opinion…..

I’ve been a bad & lazy blogger – my excuse is that I’ve been so fed up over Glade I’ve really not wanted to pick up the needles. Pathetic to get so fed up over knitting huh!

So, I’ve kicked myself up the behind and got back to it….

Glade again – I know this blog is becoming a bit of a boring “Glade Blog” but I thought you’d like to know what Rowan thought of my enormous Glade.

I was so fed up and baffled at how wrong it could have gone that after a few emails back and forth, I posted Glade up to Rowan for them to take a look.

There were two problems:-
It turned out that my tension on the stocking stitch body part was all over the place – ranging from 22st to 25st (should be 25st) The fronts were OK but the back was huge???? There were 2 theories – either the weight of the extra hem edge had pulled it badly out of shape or I’d done something in the pressing of it. 😳

After all my ranting I must be honest – in my heart I think I over pressed 😥
:!: **BIG LESSON ** Be hyper-careful pressing Bamboo Soft!!

I felt it relax when I was pressing it but didn’t realise how much. Before you ask – low heat though an old tea towel so not sure how much more careful I could have been?? I should have been out with the tape measure at that point

**slaps self hard in forehead**

The other problem was the well talked about edging – Rowan admitted there wasn’t really enough info in the pattern on this. As well as being tight, I had followed the pattern and sewn the hem on “without stretching”.
They recommended easing it a bit – about 2 repeats less on my bottom edge(8 not 10 ) and 2 not 3 on the sleeves.

I had a really helpful conversation with the Rowan Lady who gave me several ideas how to recover Glade without ripping it all ( I couldn’t face that!

  1. Tumble dry stocking stitch part to “retighten it” (I’m going to torture a swatch first!)
  2. Put dressmaker’s tape along the shoulders and back of neck to stop it pulling.
  3. Remove hem edging and reattach with less repeats – 2 stitches to 3 rows not one row to one stitch the way I did.
  4. Possibly reknit stocking stitch part – not a huge job to knit but the sewing on of that edge took an age!

It has arrived back from Rowan now and is sitting on my table waiting to be pulled apart. It’s going to be a huge job….

To cheer myself up I need to finish some of those little scrappy projects I have laying around…watch this space….more posts to come!!

One Response

  1. Kathryn
    Kathryn June 1, 2007 at 10:48 am | | Reply

    I felt just the same with my finished Glade. Somehow it saps your will to go on when there is such a big disaster. I don’t think you can blame it so much on the pressing – mine was big without any blocking at all! The sheer weight of the edging seems to me responsible for pulling the sloping fronts out of shape.

    Hope you find a satisfactory remedy. I shall face mine with renewed vigour when we’re back from holiday.

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