I have heard back from Rowan and have some useful information to pass on about the Glade Hem edging.

(In case you’re wondering what on earth I’m blathering about – I blogged about my suspicion that the hem edging needle size was wrong in my last Glade post.)

Firstly – I am not alone. Kathryn at Kathryn Knits is experiencing exactly the same symptom. i.e. Using drastically too much yarn !

This isn’t just a case of “Misery loves company”! If two experienced knitters have the same problems and come to the same conclusion, I suspect that someone else out there will be bitten too. Hopefully this info will help if it’s you!!

Recap of the problem.

• When the edging and sleeve (or edging and body) are measured together they are 2 or 3cm shorter than the measurements in the pattern book.
• 1 ball of yarn only gives just under 1.5 pattern repeats on the hem edging
• Entire garment using 4 to 5 more balls of yarn than given in the pattern
• Edging looks tighter than pictures in the pattern book

Rowan agreed that tension was the issue with my Glade, although my tension is correct for the plain body part. The sample garment was weighed and came in at 660grams – easily 14 balls! Another really useful fact (that I think should really have been included in the pattern) is that the hem edge should measure about 29cm. Mine is 26cm!!

The Rowan knitter who knits a sample, records all the details of the knit and of needles used. This is filed at Rowan. The sample did use 3mm! Interestingly though, the sample only used 2 repeats around the sleeves and 7 repeats around the hem (I counted 7 from the pictures!) My Glade took 3 repeats around the sleeve and is looking like 9 around the hem.

I am convinced that there has been some miscommunication along the way and that the 3mm needle size should have been 3.25mm. Rowan, understandably, wouldn’t confirm that!

To test my theory I knit to the first bobble on 3.25mm. Here’s the result compared to my current edge….

Guess what length it came out at??? The magically correct 29cm! Hmmmmm… 😕

If no one else has this problem I’m happy to accept that my tension went screwy and I am the “Option 1 – Dimwit”. However I’m ticked off that there wasn’t enough information in the pattern for me to spot this until I was way too far through the pattern to turn back. Kathryn was much smarter than me – she spotted the problem after the first sleeve!

Rowan did say that “in future we will be putting more information in our size diagrams which will hopefully help in these cases”. Some good has come of this debacle at least.

So what should you do if you’re thinking about knitting Glade?

• Now we have the information – SWATCH!!!!
• Try the hem edge on 3mm and measure it’s length – if it’s at the 26/27cm mark, try again on 3.25mm and post me a comment!!
• If you are doing a smaller size (I’m doing the second size) and you need more than 2 repeats around the cuff have a double check of your tension and edging length.
• Don’t do what I did and try and soldier on unless you want a shorter garment which uses heaps more yarn!

I think my Glade will look OK – I’m quite short so the reduced length will do me a favour. I am miffed at the poor amount of information in the pattern and that I’ve had to spend another £20 on yarn to complete this. If it doesn’t work I don’t think I have the stamina to redo that edging again! 😯