Loose as a Goose

Right from day one I have been a tight knitter. I know it has something to do with my unrealistic quest for control, to micromanage, to make nice, neat, perfect little rows of tight little stitches. This "quality" I have has even resulted in frogging from time to time, most memorably with the Kyoto Disaster of 2005. However, something has changed.

I have been getting gauge fairly consistently with the suggested needle sizes for my last few projects. But what happened last night was truly shocking - I had to go down a size! My first attempt at knitting my Starsky gauge swatch in my ever-so-pretty Cranberry Sierra resulted in 3.5 sts per inch on 10s (the recommended needle size). I kept looking at the tape measure in disbelief. That can't be right! I must be getting that whole "logic of gauge" issue mixed up again (you know - more stitches per inch is smaller, not bigger). But, no. I was loose. I more or less got gauge with 9s, but it seems like I have to really work at it and it is still just bearly 4 sts per inch. I refuse to go down to 8s.

I wouldn't think too much about it except that this change seems to have come out of the blue and that means that it is also likely to vanish as quickly as it surfaced. I guess I will just have to keep an constant eye on it as I go, because the last thing I want to end up with is a mini-Starsky.

We officially kick off our unofficial Starsky-along on Saturday. An event, I will unfortunately have to be late for. Why? Because of manditory overtime. Our whole office is coming in for a part day. (I told you we've been busy.) I will get off work at 2:00 and high tail it to Rebecca's. Hopefully there will be at least a couple people still there ;-)

And finally, look who I found on line this morning. I guess it's good I ran into him on his sister's blog, because he hasn't gotten online today for our semi-regular lunch time video chat. Hopefully B will show up soon...