Here’s what’s on the needles:

1) Swallowtail Shawl–I’ve completed the Lily of the Valley 1 chart.  Those nupp stitches are a bitch to do, but I made it through that chart relatively unscathed.  I only had to rip back once.  Lifelines are fantastic!

2) My So-Called Scarf–I still haven’t gone downstairs to see if I have another pair of the right size needles since the ones I’m currently using are probably better for firewood than knitting.

3) Jaywalkers–I started another pair of Jaywalkers the other night.  I love the ones I made last year, and I want another pair.  Sadly, I can’t find one of them.  I washed all of the handknit socks last week and I tore the laundry room apart looking for the missing Jaywalker.  Not only do I really like those socks, I was wearing them for my IUI when Liam was conceived so they’re a little bit special to me.

4) Nina–A pattern from Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk book.  I’m knitting it with Rowan…crap, I can’t remember the name of the yarn.  I swatched and got gauge immediately. 

That’s my swatch.  The yarn is a lovely plummy color and is very soft and silky.  Sooo nice to knit with.  What I have knit right now doesn’t look that much different than the swatch except a little wider and longer. 

The little pieces of paper are my gauge calculations printed from the calculator.  I suck at counting stitches, and I don’t trust myself so I break out a little 7th grade algebra.  For example, I cast on 28 stitches (random number, I don’t remember how many I cast on) for the swatch and knit until the swatch is roughly square.  Then I measure across.  Oh, if the pattern gauge is in stockinette I’ll knit a garter stitch border and measure between the border so the stockinette roll doesn’t alter the gauge.  So let’s say the width of the swatch is 7 inches.  My stitch gauge would be 4 st/in or 16 st/4 in.  Make sense?  I will measure in different spots on the swatch and average the results.  My stitch gauge for Nina was 4.97 st/in and the pattern calls for 5 st/in.  Pretty damn close.  And, no, I don’t always go through this much trouble swatching for most things.  But for a sweater, I want it to fit, so I’ll take the little bit of extra time to make sure I don’t have to rip it out later.

P.S.  Go say hi to my sister.  She FINALLY updated her blog.  Encourage her to post more and with pictures.