I'm a Swatching Maniac

Okay, I don't like knitting swatches any more than anyone else but I appreciate how this can prevent future problems--like hating the whole thing after it's done and sewn together. So I'm swatching some of the yarns I have before I get started.

But I'm not getting gauge. I usually have to go down one or two needle sizes from what's suggested to get gauge, but now I find myself going up in size. And I don't necessarily like the density of the resulting fabrics. This means I've been spending more time thinking about the knitting than actually knitting things.

I still haven't made much progress on yarn and needle organization which is unfortunate given how messy everything looks, but since I've been approved on Ravelry, I have a good process to go through.

I'm also having trouble prioritizing which projects I want to work on--it seems I love all my "children". I recognize the value of variety so I know I definitely need to have more than one WIP available to me. I'm trying to bucket them in terms of degree of finish, degree of probability of getting finished, yarn weight consistency the weather and my overall interest in the project. Then I'm going to have to put a lot of the yarns, patterns and needles AWAY.

I finally found a project I can be excited about for my Mystery Swap partner--I had the ladies from my LYS involved and they had great ideas. I'll have to get that off this weekend--I'm having knee surgery on the 29th and may be less mobile after that.

I also bought some Noro Silk Garden for an entrelac scarf that reminds me a lot of the Lady Eleanor stole. I have to go down a needle size or two so I ripped back, but it's been fun. It will go well with the spiral novelty hat I picked up at Stitches.

Photos of all these fine projects will follow.