Crystal cove swatches

I swatched the blossom (noro) with a size 8 (don't remember which 8, probably long clover straights, but it could have been long-cord addis (I should remember these things better)) and a size 9 (addi natura circ). Prior to the swim, I liked the feel of the 8 better. After the swim, it didn't much matter. In fact, the swatch done on 9's was smaller (a fraction more stitches per inch) than the swatch done on 8's. In fact, I suspected something was up so before the swim, I tied a knot in the yarn of one swatch and wrote myself a note indicating which one it was. So I decided to go with the needles I'd rather knit with (I do so like the addi naturas).

I can't explain what happened with the swatches. I think the yarn seeks to find it's own gauge when knitted to what feels right. And 8's and 9's are just half of a millimeter different. Go figure.

Here is a pic of the swatches:










And here is the proof in the pudding, so to speak, the gauge of the actual knitted product:

The dpns are serving the purpose of markers. I used the tape measure to find 4 inches, then put in the dpns, then I could pick it up and pull it and look closely for the stitches, etc. As I'm counting, the 4 inches does not stay 4 inches but gets pulled about a bit, as this yarn is difficult to count. In any case 4 inches was covered by 14 stitches which is 3.5 spi. About what I was planning on when I swatched.

This pattern (Crystal Cove pullover from justonemore row ) has sizing to allow for several gauges but 3.5 is not one of them. And I wasn't going to cinch this yarn down to 4 spi just for the sake of a pattern chart. So I worked out my own cast-on (56).

I also took liberties with the sweater length. Because of the construction method in wedges rather than rows, your sweater length is about the same as the finished width (half the circumference). That seemed a little short to me, so instead of set-up rows A and B then pattern rows 1,2,3,4, I did set-up rows A and B, then more set-up rows like rows 1 and 2, back to set-up rows A and B, and then commenced to following the pattern. It's working out ok so far. I'll let you know as I finish up the sweater whether I regret it.

more later,
j