Just for knitters, probably

I did my due diligence - gauge swatch - for K's sweater. I got gauge with a slightly larger needle because I'm substituting Plymouth Galway for Lion Brand Wool-Ease. Apparently the Wool-Ease is just a smidge thicker than Galway. I started knitting the sweater Monday night, and even though it was gauge, it didn't look right. That's because to get gauge I had to use a size 9 instead of an 8 needle, and the sweater was looking a bit lacy. Not good for a man's sweater that he may want to wear skiing. I'd been debating about ripping it out and starting again, but to be sure I asked his opinion. His verdict - the wind would rip through it. He's right.

Now the fun begins. He wants a larger size sweater for things like layers. I was already knitting the largest size in Stitch N Bitch Nation, so what's a gal to do? Turns out to be very easy. Grab the Ann Budd Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, find the raglan sweaters, go to the right size and gauge, and Bob's your uncle! problem solved. Ok, mostly solved. I'll have to do a little fiddling to get the cast on numbers right in order to work with the stitch pattern (which is just a very wide rib). However, a little number juggling is nothing to someone who spent a lot of years in front of a computer straightening out balance sheets and budgeting. In fact, it gives me a chance to tweak the pattern a bit anyway. Why make it just as the book says?

As for the intarsia and duplicate stitch. I've been looking at the duplicate stitch in the photo in the book, and to me it just looks a bit sloppy. I haven't decided if it's the nature of duplicate stitch or maybe the sweater was knit up pretty quickly. I think I'm doing intarsia instead of duplicate stitch for the yellow. I think it will just look better. If not, I'm not afraid to rip it out. I've got 2 hours of Nova and an episode of In Search of Myths and Heroes tonight, so let the knitting begin. (and yes, I love PBS. Send them some money so they can keep producing quality tv like Nova)

Gotta go. The laundry won't finish itself. I'd say why don't we have robots to do that, but I'd end up with Bender.