Life's a Stitch

I’ve become a loose woman. I used to be a tight knitter but recently, when swatching for two different projects, I have had to come down two needle sizes.

There are some things in both my knitting life and regular life that continue to confuse me. I know if I sit down for a bit and really take the time to figure these things out my problem might be solved. The first one is gauge. I need a rhyme (like I before E or 30 days hath September) to remember if you get more or fewer stitches when you change your needle to a different size.  I was trying to figure out gauge on some Noro yarn and a woman told me that the needles sizes on the label were Japanese! Someone at work told be that there are old British and new British needle sizes as well. I have enough trouble with Canadian (metric) vs US needles sizes.

Now for the second – I moved to Canada long enough ago to have figured out things like the metric system and Celsius. I still do the conversion thing in my head – 15 degrees times two plus thirty. I remember in my first weeks here trying to figure out my gas mileage; converting miles to kilometers, gallons to litres and Cdn dollars to US dollars. I’m a walking math problem.

Last Christmas I didn’t send out cards. I have a thing about Christmas cards and letters – if I can’t do something original I don’t do it at all. It fulfills my need to be different, a hold over from childhood. So, Mari’s high school graduation pictures were never sent. This year I designed my Christmas greeting and gathered all the photos together. Today the BAD DOG, Gracee Mae, happily chomped her way through the cardboard envelope, consuming seven photos along the way.

Back to the knitting, gauge under control, this is the start to my Autumn "Silk" Cardigan in cotton/rayon.