Surprise!

I've changed my mind. I don't like this yarn for that particular sweater. That sweater is a dressier sweater, suitable for wearing with jeans, but dressier nonetheless. I'm going to make this yarn into a hoodie, because after I knitted a swatch, it really does look more like a hoodie, like something you'd wear with jeans to a baseball game. I guess that's because it's red, white, light grey, and blue, and the color changes aren't gradual; that is, the colors don't lead into each other. Rather, the yarn is 4-ply, and each ply is a color. Surprise! I wasn't expecting that, but I don't really mind, I like it. It's so soft, and when it's not wet it smells wonderful! When it is wet it smells like something crawled in it, died, and then crapped, but after it dried it was fine.

I used the recommended needle size to make a swatch, and the guage I achieved was a lot bigger than it said I should, so I'm going to pull out the swatch and redo it in a smaller needle size. It's funny, because this is actually the first time I've ever made a swatch, and before I blocked it, it actually got guage, but after it was blocked it grew about an inch overall. Boy, am I glad I blocked it; if I'd just trusted the original swatch, I would have made the sweater, gone to block it, and it would have grown one shirt size. Surprise!

I didn't do a swatch for the calorimetry, unfortunately. I used the right size yarn and the correct needles, and it turned out three feet long and 8 inches wide at the largest points, and that's when it's unstretched! I can tie the ends under my head! I haven't pulled it out yet, mainly because when I was holding it up it looked like a little doll hammock, and if my little step-nieces like it (2 and 4) or Mom can think up something to do with it, I won't bother frogging it. I didn't tie it off though, just used a safety pin, so I can take it out anytime I want.

I'm going to go pull out my swatch (secured with a safety pin) and try again on smaller needles. Good luck to me!