Arrrgh!

My knitting is refusing to work with me!

I am aiming for a gauge of 5 stitches per inch.

My first swatch on US 8 needles yielded 4.375 stitches per inch. It was light and airy and beautiful, which is what I am aiming for on this sweater.

My second swatch on US 6 needles yielded 4.75 stitches per inch. This swatch was also very pleasing, but it’s starting down the road toward super-warm-thick-sweater land. Not good.

I started a 3rd swatch on US 4 needles, but quickly came to the realization that a sweater knit that tightly would keep me warm on the frozen tundra despite airy lace panels (did I mention that I decided to do a different lace pattern than the sweater pattern specifies?).

So after a little math (God bless whoever invented the calculator!) I realized that if I knit the sweater a size smaller, but at my original gauge it would fit.

If my plan works out I will be a genius.

If not I will need lots of chocolate.

I’m thinking about stocking up on chocolate just in case…