Fighting words

Ms. Marigold and I are in a fight.  Why?

I swatched, I swear!  And I got 5 stitches to the inch.  How did I lose an entire stitch?  It’s not because of knitting in the round, because this section was knitted flat.  I’ve decided to blame it on the yarn, which is relatively stretchy.  5 stitches on size 6 needles (so it says)?  I think not!  These are size 5s and I’m not even close!  I’m just glad that I’ve finally started listening to the little voice in my head which says “hmm, that looks big!”

Right now the sweater measures 35″ or a bit more around the bust (right after joining in the round.)   I want negative ease here, and I don’t have it.  I count 136 stitches after joining in the round.  To figure out the size that would be if the gauge were right, I should take that amount and divide by 5, right?  That gives me 27.2, while dividing by  4 gives me 34… slightly smaller than I measure, but the bottom is probably stretched a bit.  That’s the way to figure it, right?  Eh… Marc’s the one with the fancy math degrees.  I’m a musician.  I would wake him up and ask him, but I doubt most people would appreciate a late night alarm by an anxious knitter.

So, to sum up… whoa, that’s a teeny size small if I’m right.  That’s the sort of info that people would like to have before starting a pattern, right?  It’s in line with the sizing numbers I saw for Green Gable on the KAL though, so I don’t really doubt the numbers.

I really like this yarn, which has a nice natural texture.  Having said that, it does look kind of odd in spots.  It almost appears to have ladders in places, which is impossible since it’s not knit in the round.  It’s also clear to me now that 4st/”is too loose, because it appears a little floppy.  If I can’t get gauge or I don’t like the resulting fabric from size 4s, I’ll just use something else for Ms. Marigold (cotton fleece maybe?)

It’s all in the process, right? Off I go to rip and swatch…