No pictures yet of the shrug, mostly because I started it for the third freaking time last night. Gauge, you are a cruel mistress. (Note: I did knit a gauge swatch and got gauge with a US 4 Addi Turbo when I decided to knit this thing--but that was a couple of weeks ago.)

So, when I started it the first time, I thought I chose the wrong sized needles. Pattern called for a US 4 and the stitches looked too loose. I was knitting on an Addi Turbo, and it was dark so I couldn't read the numbers on the cord. When I looked in my needle drawer, I found an empty package for a US 6 circular, so I assumed (stupid me) that's what I was using. Fortunately, I hadn't gone too far, so the ripping wasn't all that traumatic.

I pulled out a US 4 circular needle and cast on again. Knit some more. Last night I looked at my partial sleeve and thought two things: 1) I don't like how I've done my increases; and 2) This still looks kind of loose. So, out came the tape measure and, dammit, my gauge was off. Now, it's a shrug, and a loose-fitting one at that, so while gauge is important, I wasn't so far off that the sweater would have fit Tom Brady at the end. But it just didn't look quite right. So, out it came and I moved down to an Addi Turbo US 3. Where I finally got gauge. Again.

I'm wondering when my tension loosened up so much? How did this happen? It's certainly not because I'm relaxed. Especially after ripping out the damned sleeve two times. And why does knitting the same sweater on a US 3 circular needle seem so much more daunting than if I was using the recommended US 4? And why do I bother knitting swatches at all if they're just going to lie to me anyway!

In other news... Once you turn in your resignation, your desire and ability to be productive at work take a marked turn for the worse. Does this happen to other people, or is it just me? I now feel bad about giving so much notice, because I have another three weeks of just not caring ahead of me. I mean, I'll gladly help people if they have questions--it's more a question of motivation. Library work is not steady. Sometimes you have patrons with questions, often you don't. Today is a no-questions sort of day, which means I need to take care of other administrative sorts of things. Or catalog. Or do something. So I photocopied some more ILL and Equipment Usage handouts earlier in the day as an attempt to be a good worker bee, but now...I'm literally counting down till I can leave. Or at least take a 15 minute break and work on my sock. So pathetic.

On a happier note, I think I've decided what I'm going to knit for the Romantic Hand Knits-Along. I'm planning on making A Room with a View, which is a "lace peplum surplice design...excellent for all body types, especially a short-waisted figure." Sign me up. If the short-waisted part wasn't enough to make me want to knit this, the fact that surplice-styled tops flatter my ever-expanding upper-body doesn't hurt. I have no idea why they've decided to grow. I'm over 30. I'm not pregnant. This is driving me nuts and making clothes-shopping (and the concept of knitting a sweater) an absolute nightmare. Hence the shrug. If I can ever get past the lower half of the first sleeve. < /rant >

OH, and I can't believe I've forgotten to write about this last piece of big news that's now a week old! Resident Sibling is out of the house! She's joined the Army and is happily settled at Boot Camp. OK--so I can't be sure she's happy, but this is what she's wanted, and more importantly, she's no longer in the next room over! Unfortunately, she left so quickly that she failed to get her things out of the room she occupied. So, she may be gone, but I'm still stuck with her crap. The Beloved and I are hoping to start in on a massive basement project so that her items may be moved out of what will be my fiber studio. (HA--Is that not the craziest thing you ever heard?) With the possible exception of her stash. Now, there's actually quite a bit in her stash that doesn't interest me at all. But she's got about a metric ton of Lopi that is just begging to be knit into felted bags. And maybe felted slippers. Laura reminds me that I really should be a good person and ask her what she would like done with her stash.... but being good is just so darned hard when my little brain starts making plans!