just ow

No knitting, no pics, no Kisa, just pain. I've had a headache for three days and today I discovered why: Tom accidentally bought decaffeinated coffee beans. I've been going cold turkey with no warning. However, I had already decided to break my addiction to caffeine over Christmas, so I guess I'll just do it early.

Still, lots and lots of pain. I just hope I can manage the creativ festival on Saturday. I want to do some major yarn scoping/comparing/planning/shopping. I need my brain to function.

Obligatory Thanksgiving Post

And I am thankful, despite having woken up with my daughter's cold (you can have it back now dear), and a load of cooking and marking to do. We'll alive; my husband and kids are the best; we still have food, clothing and shelter; I have a decent stash of yarn; my daughters have joined the knitting club at school (yeah!); Kisa has recovered from spaying and is back to her ridiculously cute self (I must post more pictures); and we haven't directly effected so far by all the economic turmoil (though I haven't looked at a report on our investments lately).

So I give thanks.

Picture of FOs and why I hate gauge

I'm really happy with my TIFF scarf, I just hope the (still to be announced) recipient will like it:



Maria's Tree Jacket turned out well. She wore it to school and got lots of complements. The sleeves grew quite a bit after washing/blocking, but fortunately Maria likes very long sleeves:



Here's the back, with a peak at Kisa:



And a close-up of the back:



I cast on and knitted the ribbed edge and the beginning of the honeycomb pattern for Honeycomb by Sarah Castor from Knitty. Then I realized I had started the crossovers the wrong way. After frogging the 7 rows of pattern I had done, I decided to slip it on to check the fit. It was way too big (as I had suspected, hence the trying on). Of course, I hadn't knit a gauge swatch, because the swatch requirements just seemed too difficult (the gauge was given only in pattern, not stockinette; I was knitting the pattern in the round, not flat, so my swatch needed to be in the round, or so say the experts). Meh. I ripped the whole thing, and decided to put it aside and knit Maria a hat on really bulky yarn on huge needles.

After sleeping on it I decided how to proceed. If I go down a needle size (Honeycomb pattern calls for 3.5mm) it will just be too small and fiddly. So I'm just going to knit the next size down, knit at my normal loose gauge, and adjust for length (which I would probably have done anyway, since I'm tall).

Next sweater will be EZ still, knit to my own gauge and no one else's.

I hate gauge.