So, anyway...

I actually felt like blogging this week, but Blogger ate itself, so, um. Here we are. (Do you think "my dog ate the server" works as a valid excuse at Google HQ? I'm thinking not, but I'd love to be a fly on the wall.)

I've wondered what to do about questions and answers with the knit-along. I've finally decided I'll address them on the fly (like, right here, as they come up), but then I'll go back and add the comments to the relevant post. Ideally, I'd like to put ALL THE POSTS together into a PDF and upload it to Rav (or otherwise make it available) as a sort of EPS long form for anyone who wants it.

There've been lots of questions about using things in place of gauge swatches. It's your sweater, I'm not telling anyone they HAVE to do anything. HOWEVER. Youse guys who are talking about some kind of flat-knit sample, and using it as an in-the-round swatch? Proceed with extreme caution. Lots of folks think their gauge is the same, flat and in the round. It almost never is. If you've run the numbers before, and you KNOW, then knock yourselves out. Personally, I vary by about half a stitch per inch. That's a lot. (And I knit more loosely in the round. I'm told that's unusual. I'm always special.) So... yeah. It's up to you. If you've never compared before, you might want to. It's a good thing to know. For instance, when I do back-and-forth short rows at an in-the-round neck line, I always make sure to knit loosely so it 'goes' with the rest of the sweater.

Incidentally, it's 'fixin' to rain' (as some folk in the south are known to say). I'm sitting in my living room, watching lightning repeatedly strike a natural gas well over the ridge from our neighborhood. There's a lightning rod on it, so there's no worry, but I almost hope the lightning rod fails. It would be interesting. (No one lives near enough to it for it to be dangerous if it were to blow.)

Anyway. Knitting.

Someone had an intelligent question about my two different colors of yarn from swatch to sweater, and wouldn't that make a difference in the gauge? (Good question, and bravo for thinking of it.) Yes. A very slight one. If I were doing a tailored anything, I would, indeed, knit a new swatch with the proper yarn. But I'm knitting myself a loose pullover (okay, possibly a cardigan, I haven't decided yet) so it doesn't matter too much.

I'm setting up a Ravelry group for us. I don't intend it to be our primary anything, but one of my Beloved Readers pointed out that it would be easy to post photos there, in case of questions. It's a good point. So, I'll do that and get a link out to everyone. For those of you not on Ravelry, it's free if you want to. For those of you worried about getting sucked into the madness that is Ravelry, you don't have to join the group if you don't want to.

Okay. I think that's it for the knitting questions. I'll probably remember something as soon as I click "publish", so heck, I'll just have to blog again tomorrow. Heavens.