Gauge is a Fickle Beast

Kathleen-
This entry brought to you by Gauge is a Fickle Beast. Now showing wherever I'm knitting, for the foreseeable future.

So in my search for the perfect shrug pattern, I looked at lots of patterns and lots of yarn. I chose the lovely Royal Bamboo for its silkiness and fair price. After a false start involving the bolero from Vintage Knits, I decided on the One Skein Wonder pattern that has made its way around the blogs. Let me say up front that I love this pattern, and the problem is not with the pattern.

I made a gauge swatch. My gauge was terribly compressed. I did math. Lots of math. I triple checked. My swatch and the math told me that I could knit the largest size, and it should fit me. So I cast on. After knitting a few inches, I measured again. Right on track. So I kept knitting.

Which brings me to last night. I sat down to watch TV in the evening (two episodes of West Wing on DVD), and knit happily along. I knew I was approaching the end of the knitting of the main part of the piece, and then would need to knit the border. After two episodes, I counted stitches. I was done with the main knitting! Then I draped it around myself. Not happening. Several inches too small.

I measured, and lo and behold, the gauge was off. Way off. After a small fit of frustration, I decided to set it aside for the evening (measuring and knitting to resume tonight at Knit Night).

Then I started watching the end of the Minnesota Legislative Session. I know, I know. What an exciting life I have. Watching the legislature isn't generally too exciting, but with a midnight deadline and chaos threatening, it was actually pretty entertaining. As the evening wound down, I found myself ripping out and re-casting on for my sockapalooza socks for the second time. Apparently I really can't be trusted to count.

Tonight my Knit Night agenda involves reconsidering the pattern for my sockapalooza socks and deciding how to proceed on my one skein wonder. Wish me luck in my continuing battle with the fickle beast of gauge.....

PS: Hi Kathleen's brother.....

Reading Weekend

Kathleen-
Mike and I are house and dogsitting this week, which presents an opportunity for a slower speed of life.

Have I mentioned that our friend C, who just graduated from college found himself without a place to live between graduation and his new lease beginning on June 1? So he's staying at our house, and we're at Mike's folks.

The weekend started with a bang, as on Thursday one of my office neighbors came over and asked if I'd like tickets to see Jon Stewart on Friday night! Of course! So I procured four tickets, and Mike and I took C and his girlfriend out to dinner at the Loring Pasta Bar, and then off to see the show for free! Jon Stewart was fabulously funny, and since he was doing two shows, we were out early, and went out for drinks afterward.

I of course knit through the entire show, much to the bemusement of some of our neighbors. My current no-thinking, knit in the dark knitting is those socks that you started and then left with me. Mike sadly rejected the colors, so now I'm making them for me, and I'm loving the way the yarn feels. Any memory of what it is? It feels cottony and cool, but doesn't hurt my hands like cotton sometimes does.

After that start to our weekend, we deliberately planned to slow down for the rest of the time. Saturday I spent most of the day reading on the couch, and Sunday I alternated between reading and watching the Twins play on TV. The only knitting that got done was some work on my bamboo shrug, which is fast advancing. The body of it is almost done, and then I need to knit the edging, and I'll be all set. A good thing too, since the event the shrug is intended for is just a couple of weeks away.

It should be a good week for knitting though. I'm planning on finishing the shrug, working on my sockapalooza socks, and doing some spinning for a change!

Hope your Monday is going well!