I was putting away my blocking the other night, so I checked my gauge on the newly blocked Gauge Hat. It did relax just a bit, and where I had 20.5 st and 26 rounds/4 inches, I now have 20 st and 26 rounds/4 inches. I can work with that! The row gauge is spot on. The prescribed stitch gauge is 19 st/4 inches, so I’m choosing a size (43.75”) that will give me the size I want (41.6” at my gauge).
And since I did the math for the sweater, I accidentally cast on. I wasn’t planning to start yet, but you know how it goes. I used the German twisted/Old Norwegian cast on, for a little extra heft (but still flexible) at the neckline. (Little plug for my HiyaHiya interchangeables: I now have this on a combination of the 40” cable plus the 16” cable. It grew too big for the flat lay picture before I realized it! The yoke includes body and sleeve stitches, which makes it bigger than 40 inches.)
So here’s hoping my gauge swatch hat didn’t lie to me! But I can always adjust the body circumference up or down 8 stitches, after the yoke is done. (8 stitches because of the pattern that goes before the bottom ribbing is a multiple of 8; you can see it on the hat.)
This is a reminder: Put down your knitting and stretch! I knit a lot on this last night (just one more, one more, one more round of patterning, so seductive) and realized that my forearms were feeling a bit achy due to tendinitis. Something about the way I hold this particular project, I guess. Knitting with fairy lights bothered my elbow after a time. Kay Gardiner of Modern Daily Knitting shares her thoughts, via shoulder injury, in a post this week, too. It’s going around. Listen to your body, so you don’t get an injury that takes a long time to heal!
I’m about to start the last contrast color on the yoke. Not right now, though. Break time!
PDXKnitterati 