I hate gauge swatches. Let’s not beat around the bush here. I hate them. I hate wasting time knitting a tiny square when I want to start a sweater. I hate trying to find a clean, flat surface and a tape measure for measuring them, and I don’t tend to wash them because I re-wind them and use the yarn to knit the actual object with.

But sometimes, gauge is good. I’m knitting the Wheat-Ear Cable Yoke Sweater for Mabon, and I love the design. I also lucked out–I happened to have a sweater’s worth of light toffee colored yarn that fits the season and design perfectly in my stash, so no need to buy yarn!

I swatched on the suggested needle sizes–too big. No big deal, I figured I’d drop down a needle size and cast on and knit merrily away. (You know where this is heading, don’t you?)

Looks like a normal sweater back, doesn’t it? Well…yeah. About that. It looks like a normal sweater back, but looks can be deceiving. My gauge is still slightly off stitch-wise, and my row gauge is off by about an inch and a half. Yikes! So I looked at the sweater. I debated. I wondered if a 36″ sweater really would be too much ease. (Yes. It would.)
I ripped back.

I’ve cast on again, this time using US6s as the largest needle. Which also means I’ll have to scrounge up a set of US4s at some point, since I’m using my Denise set, which doesn’t go down that far. Luckily, it’s a pretty quick and easy knit, but I’m still a tad peeved at myself for having to do it twice.

Plus, I think the cat was mocking me.

He looks suspiciously amused, doesn’t he? Silly fat Fred, he has no idea he’s about to be put on a kitty diet and exercise regime….poor boy.

Tarot Card of the Day: Five of Swords