Getting Gauge

I made a quick trip back to the old hometown on the weekend to visit family, do some cross-border shopping, and have breakfast with former colleagues who meet the first Friday of every month.

While at Mary Maxim in Port Huron, MI, I purchased a couple of balls of yarn which I thought would be perfect for a Provence Baby Cardigan.

It is 50% acrylic and 50% Viloft - made from eucalyptus fibre. I needed a DK weight yarn and noted on the label that there were 23 stitches to 4" on a 3.25 needle.

After swatching, starting to knit the left front, I realized that this was actually fingering weight yarn and would not work at all for this pattern. I tried several needle sizes and different sizes in the pattern and it just wouldn't work.

While driving home, I considered stopping in at a yarn shop en route to pick up some appropriate weight yarn. Then I remembered that I have several cones of yarn in the basement that I could blend with this yarn and possibly get the gauge I needed.

By some miracle, the cone of thread-thin yarn was an exact colour match to the yarn I had purchased. I guessed that two strands of it added to the fingering weight would bring it up to DK weight. I think it's cotton so it should work OK with the eucalyptus yarn. I'm not too worried if it shrinks a bit, I'm making it an ample size.

After swatching, I got gauge!  Yay!

I finished the left front and started the right front. I brought the project on the GO train into the city today but was unable to continue beyond beginning the armhole decreases as I hadn't brought the left front to compare it to. What to do. What to do...



Rather than take make the 50 minute ride with nothing to knit, I cut the yarn of the right front and pulled out the needles and started the back.

Now, back at home, I'm beyond the underarm decreases and well on the way to finishing the back. Then I'll pick up the right front stitches and finish it.

This is the third or fourth time I've knit this sweater. On the moss stitch edging, I made the first and last stitches of every row stocking stitch. That will make it much easier to seam the pieces together.