ATTENTION:

This is for all those knitters out there who keep insisting that they don't need to wash their gauge swatch:

Before:


After:


See that TWO INCH/five cm growth? That's entirely from the yarn relaxing in the wash. And it's over about forty stitches; not that much. So wash yer swatches, already. You have any kind of idea what a disaster that would be in a SWEATER? Try a foot or two too big. Geez.


...I have decided since my birthday is coming up next week, I'm ditching all the for-other-people knitting I'm doing and knitting myself that pair of socks:


You see from that hand in the photo, the baby's been a big help. (Oy.) It's the arch-shaped sock pattern from Vogue Knitting/Meg Swansen's Knitting. I'm making it into crew socks, though, and cobbling it together from both those sources AND the Yarn Harlot's generic sock pattern from "Knitting Rules!" Considering my entire sock output to date has been one experimental heel, it should be quite an adventure. And yes, I'm doing both at once. I hope to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome that way. And maybe get the decreasing madness to match.

And can someone get the cat out of my office chair?