We’ve all done it of course… switched needle sizes halfway through a project, thinking “it’ll be like extra shaping!” Decided to substitute an aran tweed in a pattern calling for sportweight silk. Said “Oh, I don’t need to swatch… I made a sweater with this yarn 3 years ago, gauge doesn’t change!”

In my case, I said “So yeah, I’ve made 3 Norah Gaughan designs before and they have all been cursed… but Manon will be different!” So I happily knit on, making triangles and oohing over the interesting peplum construction. Last night I finally finished the peplum and thought “Hmm… maybe I should try this on.”

“Shouldn’t these pieces just meet in the middle? It looks a little big. Oh well, nothing a good blocking can’t fix, right?”

*sigh*

Because of the way this is constructed there is not way to fix this without starting over.  I know I could pick up fewer stitches on the top, but it isn’t going to be enough to compensate for the six extra inches of peplum I’ve got going on.  I knew, of course, that my gauge in pattern is usually wildly different from my gauge in stockinette.  I’ve learned that lesson over an over, and yet somehow I thought that on this patttern they would match up perfectly.

So… froggity frog frog frog.  I’ll knit on Tuscany and think about what I want my next sweater project to be… hopefully it will be less ill-fated!