The importance of guage

I decided to participate in a KAL for the February Lady Sweater by flitknits.com. I have a bunch of acryllic yarn that I decided to use for it.

Not too long ago I was listening to the manicpurl.com podcast and Chrissy was talking about qauge. She had decided to do a gauge swatch for a sweater and take all her measurements, etc. and she was surprised at good the sweater turns out when you take the time to do a gauge swatch, prep it properly, and take down all your measurements. With this still fresh in my mind I started swatching Saturday.

I swatched on size US 8 (Got 14 stitches for 4 inches), then size US 6 (Got 14.5 stitches for 4 inches) and finally US4 (Got 16 inches for 4 inches). Some told me that I was a loose knitter.

I watched my guage swatch go from loose and drapey, to smaller, dense and kind of stiff.

I asked for input and came to the conclusion that this yarn was not for the "The Lady" I figured that there was just no way that I could be that loose of a knitter. The knitting sure didn't feel loose on Size US 4 and US 5.

On a "Oh for the heck of it" moment I dug a small ball of Cascade 220 that I have and started a small swatch. I got a couple inches into it on US 8 and measured. Guess what? I got 17 inches to 4 inches. So I'm only guessing that if I dropped to a US 7 I would get guage.



So I pondered this for a few moments and got up to go get the original yarn. I compared the yarns side by side. The yarn I origianally swatched with is MUCH thicker than the Cascade 220.

No wonder I wasn't getting gauge. Now I have to decide if I want to continue with the yarn and just try my hand at a smaller size or buy new yarn.

This weekend taught me that not all yarn weights are the same even when they both say that they are the same weight.

Dye project Jan. 2010

Last week I dyed some white superwash yarn I had. It's to make DS a pair of socks for his birthday. I didn't feel like kettle dyeing this time. I wanted some variation in the blues so I tried handpainting yarn again. I've done this only one other time.

This is what it looked like after the dye had set and the yarn was completely cooled off.

I've been asked very nicely to not do this in the house anymore when the windows can't be opened up. I put the yarn, covered, in the oven to heat and set the dye. The odor coming from the oven was not very pleasant. I was told I could do this again as soon spring rolled around. But preferably outside.

Here it it all skeined up and pretty, sitting on a window ledge. This was the first time I got to use my umbrella swift that I ordered from Knitpicks back in June of 2009. Took long enough, huh?

I am almost done with the leg of the first sock.

FO ~ 2x2 ribbed scarf

A simple 2 x 2 ribbed scarf that I made for DS for his birthday next month.

Lionbrand hometown yarn in the "green bay" color.

One skein

His favorite colors are green and blue. So I thought I would make him a green scarf and then blue socks.

Blowsey Ruffles scarf

From the now defunct InsideLoop.com knitting site.

I cast on yesterday and got the first ruffle done. Then I got to the main pattern. Wow, talk about slightly confusing. They are using a chart and it's charted for all rows of the repeat. So it's got symbols that means different things depending on which row you are on. Since I don't know what other people have done for this I am going to write out the pattern.

On to a new year ...

Next year has to be better than the last one, lol. Not that horrific things happened (well, define horiffic) but there sure has been a lot of stress this year.

In looking over my last few entries I realized that I have photos to post. Oops. In the meantime, here is one.

I finished my blanket. I am in mad, mad love with this blanket. Now that we have a cold system that has settled into our area it is getting a lot of use.

I have also been doing some spinning recently. I bought some fiber from a fellow BB. Oh, the stuff spins like a dream.

Here is a partial bobbin full.


It is a corriedale and merino cross. Am loving it. I will Navajo ply it this weekend. Don't have a project in mind for it yet. But I want something that will be close to the skin. Maybe a neck warmer.

I have noticed that this week seems to be the time where everyone is posting on their blogs for the new year and what their goals are. I have been thinking about this for a while. Honestly, what I want for the next year is a healthy family and less stress. While my happy was not broken is was definitely pulled, twisted and bent. It will take a while still before I feel centered and all that good junk.

Last year I had the plan (ha ha) of making a pair of socks each month and a washcloth. While that didn't happen I certainly have enough socks to keep my satisfied. Though I plan on always having a vanilla sock in the car with me and a vanilla sock at work so I always have a project in hand.

I have never been one for casting on a ton of stuff at once and then stressing about it all but I plan to choose my projects a bit more carefully. There are things I would like to do this year like play with colorwork, learn to crochet, dye more fiber and yarn, and make a sweater.

I've been kind of introspective (is that the right word?) the last few weeks. I seem to go through this every so often. I realized that there are only a few places I really hang out online and drama, even online, can drain you. I have learned that there seems to be a new online knitting community drama that rolls around about every six months or so. I have start unsubscribing from certain podcasts that kind of feed into that or constantly mention certain web sites.

I've learned a lot about myself in the last year. I hope you all have too.

A Merry Christmas (cause we are still in the 12 days of Christmas) and a happy new year. Make it bring us more joy than than we had in 2009.

Float stole: The final chapter

I did end up frogging the stole :-( I felt just terrible about it.

But I did take up the suggestion to work on smaller lace patterns. I ordered some US 4 16-inch circular needles and US 8 16-inch circular needles from knitpicks because there was just no way I was going to try and do lace on DPNs. I have some patterns in mind


http://www.elann.com/ShowFreePattern.asp?Id=299024

http://www.carylldesigns.com/wavy_feathers_wimple.htm

http://bingeknitter.blogspot.com/2008/11/clmence.html

Haven't decided yet. Think they are all nice though.

Feather and Fan blanket

A couple weeks ago I cast on for a blanket. Had no idea what I wanted but said "what the heck" and looked up the feather and fan stitch pattern. It's such an easy pattern to memorize and just pick up and go with. Each row takes me not much time and I manage to do at least a couple repeats an evening. I decided to go with stripes and I'm pretty pleased with it so far.

It's Lion Brand hometown yarn and Red Heart Craft yarn. I'm quite impressed with how nice the Red Heart feels. Not as soft and the Lion Brand (and that stuff feels pretty snuggly).

I think this will be perfect for curling up on the couch with.