Or “Gauge swatch? We don’t need no stinkin’ gauge swatch!”. A story in two acts.
Act one:
A lace ribbon scarf from Knitty, in Posh Yarn Emily in Primrose. This is actually the third project I’ve started with this yarn; it looks great as lace, but the skein only has 365 yards and the yarn is really, really squishy. And I keep running out of yarn. I got half way through the skein, but the scarf is only about 20″ long. Even with heavy blocking, it’s going to be to short. So–into the frog pond (and maybe a time out) with it.
Act two:
Cleopatra Wrap (from Sensual Knits) in Posh Yarn (it’s a theme) Beatrice, claret color, which is a little darker than the photo shows. I LOVE the way this yarn is knitting up. I love the way it looks in this pattern. I love the drape with this size needles. I love the way it feels when I knit. But I don’t love the fact that the wrap is only 10″ long right now and I’m 25% of the way through the skein. (Which also seems to be a theme.) Even with serious blocking, this isn’t going to be long enough. It is, however, fairly wide–about 21″, unblocked, when the pattern suggests a finished width of about 16″.
The options I’ve come up with are 1. Frog and start again with needles that are at least 2 sizes smaller. 2. Frog and do a freakin’ gauge swatch. 3. Frog and come up with a different pattern. 4. Drink a really big glass of wine.
*sigh* It’s all about the process, right?
Thanks for the reminder. I am about to cast on two projects, and am sort of thinking about not swatching. Actually, even after reading your post I may not swatch, because hey, they are both knit in the round and I can get just a few inches in and decide I hate it, or I love it. In the first case I’ll call it a swatch. In the second case I’ll just keep knitting. But for a stole, I’ll swatch.
So far my experiences of lace have been all about the yarn panic! The foxglove wrap featured major yarn panic that I’d run out (looks like I’m going to be ok), and my Ravelympics wrap ended up needing double the yarn the pattern says (I was not amused!)
Hopefully the socks with the broken needles will not result in similar problems, and for the next lace projects i have cones of yarn, surely even I can’t end up having yarn worries with those!
Good luck finding a pattern that works for your yarn, share with us what you find, I’ve got a few single skeins at about that yardage.