Of Guage and Alpaca

Aren't you proud of me? I've managed to go three whole days without acquiring any new yarn. Not only that, I've started my next project out of yarn from my stash -- granted, it it's yarn that's been in my stash for only three days, but I think it should count.

To be honest, I had to cast some Phoebe on to my needles almost instants after getting it home. Because I didn't want to waste any of this luscious yarn, I swatched and then ripped it out. On size 8 (5.0 mm) needles, the pattern calls for a gauge of 18 stitches and 22 rows to 4" square. My swatch worked out, so I cast on the zillion stitches requred and got started.

And then I discovered that my swatch had lied to me. I wasn't completely off, but my 4.5 stitches/inch had become more like 5 and my 5.5 rows/inch had become more like 6. This was after I had knit through my entire first skein and part of the second. The piece stretched to the correct dimensions, but I started to get worried about yardage and decided that I needed to test out another swatch on the next needle size up (US 9). This resulted in 4 stitches/inch and 5.5 rows/inch. Right row gauge, wrong stitch gauge. Sigh. My swatches weren't going to give me any easy answers.

So I set the piece aside and worked on Clapotis while I considered what to do next. The thought of ripping the whole thing out and starting over didn't appeal to me, but I figured the wrong row gauge would result in a yarn shortage. And by now everyone should know that if there is one thing I don't do well, it's deal with a yarn shortage.

In the end, I decided that maybe my original swatch hadn't lied to me -- maybe my fingers had. rather than rip, I decided that I'd consciously force myself to knit more loosely and see if I could achieve my original gauge.

The Beginning of A Capelet

To my very pleasant surprise, thinking loosey-goosey worked. This is just after starting my third skein of Phoebe. And here's an up close look at the difference in my stitches:

Loosening Up

Can you see the difference? It's small, but real. It feels a little strange to knit this way, but I think in the long run it might be a good exercise to keep me from choking up on my needles.

This yarn is absolutely delightful to knit with. The plies, however, have a tendency not to want to stick together, so it is very easy to knit through a stitch and split the yarn, meaning that it doesn't make for completely mindless knitting. But it's still a pretty good option for working on while my boy indulges in a little Half Life 2.