Prodigal Summer

My Bee Fields Shawl kit finally came!

Here is the enormous hank of yarn lounging on our back fence. The colors are lovely, a beautiful blend of appley green, pale grass, and sunshine yellow. It really does look like a late summer field.

My cat, of course, wanted to know what the heck I was doing out there.

Gauge problems

I have discovered that I am a very loose knitter.

That is, not only do I flit from project to project, but I also have a tendency to make things too big. I swatched and cast on for the Indigo Ripples Skirt from IK Spring 07 yesterday, and only after six rows did I try it on and discover it was enormous.

I thought I would be all right. When I swatched, I went down two needle sizes and got 6 stitches to the inch, as opposed to 5.25 as required by the pattern. I multiplied this by my waist measurement and cast on. Unfortunately, I must knit much more loosely when not doing a gauge swatch, and that didn't work. I swatched again, knitting more loosely, and got 5.25 st/in. So, I'm just going to cast on for the smallest size and hope it works out this time!

I'm also impatiently awaiting my Bee Fields shawl kit. I'm excited about this project, like many others in Blogland!