Okay, so I don't post very often...

... namely because I keep forgetting to take pictures. I feel like if I don't have pictures, I shouldn't be posting. I figure I should probably forego the pix now, and just do my normal "I'm going to post a glut of pictures at the end of each month when I remember to upload them" thing. :)

But, I'm going to tell you about my lessons in gauge in the last week.

I've recently put together a pattern I call "Shorty", because it's all short-rows. It's a hat, a pair of mittens, and a scarf, all done in short row garter stitch (okay, the scarf is done in garter, no short rows involved. Hm. That could be interesting, making a short-row scarf too, but I digress). I decided to make a set for my mother for Christmas, in Magellanes #302. Beautiful colorway, nice thick n thin yarn.

The hat was a breeze. The first mitten was almost a breeze (after improvising and then frogging and then re-doing it *reversed* of what I'd originally done for the thumb), but the second caused me issues. Same needles. Same yarn. Same "pattern" (or lack thereof) caused me to have a mitten that was two inches bigger than the previous one.

This did not make me happy.

So I frogged mitten number 2. I re-did it, much tighter than I had the previous attempt.

And I now had a mitten that was two inches smaller than the original.

This still did not make me happy.

Several attempts and re-frogging a few times over later, I finally got a mitten that is only slightly different from the original, close enough that I'm not going to fret.

This is definitely a lesson in "gauge counts".

On a different note, I cast on my first Entrelac swatch this last weekend, garter style. It was big enough that it took up a whole ball of yarn, but I finished it in only a few hours. I can either join the edges together and have a funky looking hat with points, or I can leave it as it is (I joined the sides) and have a funky looking ear-wrap. :) It was an experiement, because I didn't want to go experimenting with my Noro Aurora yarn on something I'd never done before.

So after the swatch went well enough, I decided to give a go at the real thing. I cast on with Noro Aurora, smaller needles, smaller squares, stockinette.

OMG, I'm in love. I *have* to take pictures of this, it's GORGEOUS.

Okay, I'll sign off now. At least now I can say I've said *something* here. :)