Knitting Question

[i-need-a-martini]

I'm not much of a knitter but occasionally get the bug and so started on a cute cardi at the start of winter.

The pattern said to use some el-cheap fluffy acrylic that didn't have a ply but I bought some decent 8ply Cleckheaton wool. Both 50g. I did a 10 x 10 tension patch and it was good. If anything my tension square was a little larger which was good as I wanted the cardi looser.

The pattern said to use 5 balls of wool which I thought was strange and would not be enough. So I bought 8 instead thinking just-in-case (plus I coud always make a matching beanie if there were left overs.)

I have knitted the back, 1 front and about half of another front but only have half a ball left. Still have sleeves and edges to go!

When I took it back to the shop to say there must be a misprint in the booklet and the cardi is going to use at least another 6 balls the woman pointed out that the tension squares are useless and that I should be reading how many metres each ball of wool has. Sure enough, my cleckheaton has 32m and the el-cheapo has 94m per ball.

I never realised that I should check the lineal metre on a ball of wool (didn't even realise they listed it) but what I don't understand is why my tension square was spot on.

Can someone explain to me how I ran out of wool if the tension squares were correct? I just don't get the maths.

[lurker172602]

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

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@lurker172602 wrote:

Were you able to get more/enough yarn from the same dye lot? If not I may have a suggestion for you. 

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Sadly no.

I have found 4 balls of another dyelot and 3 balls of a different one again.

So I thought I would knit the rib on the sleeves using the 3 balls and then continue the rest of the arms in the 4 others. If it isn't enough I can just do 3/4 sleeves.

My biggest problem is that I am going to run out of same dyelot on one side of the front. Any suggestions for that?

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There is a huge online knitting community called Ravelry which has a ISO (in search of) forum section.  I have asked on there for  particular yarn and although not successful I did get lots of offers of assistance.  I have seen other searches have success. 

It might be worth a go.