Coversations With Kermit

Or, Swatches Lie. When I swatched for Cobblestone I came up with 20 st/4 inches with size 7US needles. This led me to cast on 194 stitches for a size small. After knitting about 5 inches I thought that it looked a bit larger than it should. I measured it at 41.5 inches. Yikes! That can't be right; it should be 39 inches give or take a couple of tenths. So, I put it on waste yarn for a quick try on. Damn this thing is too big. After double checking the swatch and again getting 20st/4" I realized that yes indeed; swatches lie. But that's not the worst of it. My mind had taken a holiday when I decided that 39" was the measurement to aim for. I had planned this sweater to fall right at the hip bone and I had actually measured for the butt. After remeasuring and recalculating I have now cast on 176 stitches on size 6 needles. I am now back to where I was before frogging and the size looks just right. Well, now that you all know the size of my butt...... I may have to rethink this whole swatch thing. I'm seriously thinking that on my next sweater project to just throw caution to the wind and skip the swatch. Live dangerously. Just cast on with what's called for in the pattern and start knitting.

Cobblestone isn't the only project that has been to the frog pond. Tailored took a quick dip a few days ago too. After knitting about half of the left front I didn't like the way the garter band was drawing up and making the whole thing all puckery. I ripped back and started over doing my best not to strangle the yarn in the garter band area. It looks much better now and as you can see is ready for it's mate.

We went to the fair today so that I could check on my entries. My Swallowtail Shawl got a 3rd place behind a pretty fine gauge blanket and something knit with fun fur. The blanket I understand. It was really pretty and looked like it was knit on size 2 needles and had a lovely textured stitch pattern. But fun fur? Alpaca, lace and nupps rate lower than fun fur? Will the fun fur madness never end? My other entry this year was a flower arrangement that I entered on a whim and it also got a 3rd place. I really didn't expect it to get anything. Two entries and two ribbons; I really can't complain. Especially considering that we got to spend some real quality time with our Grandson and his Mom today.

It was a good day.