Knitting tasks me

So...I guess I can't pretend to be some kind of gauge enthusiast anymore. I remember reading the beginning of No Sheep for You and thinking "yes I must always knit swatches! It would be foolish not to." I usually do make some kind of attempt. "And wash them before I knit with them to see how the fabric behaves!"...well I have done that once or twice...

I made a swatch for this...of course I did that about a year ago, and I have no idea what size needle I used. I assumed I used what the pattern called for. I also assumed, for some reason, wishful thinking probably, that I got gauge. So even though the swatch is right there and the ruler is right there too, I didn't bother to measure it. In my defense this bumpy yarn is sort of hard to judge. Part of the reason I don't really like trying to get gauge is because it seems too subjective. Knits stretch and may have variations, etc. so I never feel completely sure that I've got it.

 

Well...one way to be certain you don't have is to try on your knitting and find out it's ginormously huge. Good thing this was a top-down raglan project. Those are great for trying on as you go, so I didn't get terribly far on it before realizing it was just silly big. Okay...so I'd spent like two and a half weeks working on it, but I like knitting and I like having a project going, so it's not really a big deal. And to prove that I wasn't I spent a good size chunk of the weekend catching up and knitting it like crazy.

 

When it comes down to it, I really wanted to use this yarn for this project (it's the Gold Metallic Dress from Stephanie Japel's Glam Knits, the cover project, BTW) and I've still got a long way to go before I'm done. But I think knocking down to the smallest size and going down one needle size has done the trick. Hopefully that holds true for the rest of the project! It's not like I swatched this...I'm just playing it by ear. Good thing I can keep trying it on as I go, which I'm sure makes Chuck happy since I ask his opinion each time...

One other thing: Ricardo Montalban 

The Orange color, the scoop-y neckline? 

Glad I'm getting the fit right & that I'll be adding more to the collar.