Okay, so I'm not a lace knitter

I'm good with that.

As you'll recall from a couple of posts ago, I was quite enamoured of the Charmed Floral Fantasy Shawl.  And it's a gorgeous thing, indeed.  But I am NOT a lace knitter; not for large-scale shawl-like projects, anyway.

I've had some gorgeous pinkish Araucania Nature Wool worsted hanging out in my stash for the longest time.  I originally purchased it along with some gray to be a Ribby Cardi, but I think it's just not a heavy enough yarn for the Ribby.  The Nature Wool was the right gauge, I think, for the Floral Fantasy Shawl - but it's just not working for me.  It's just not doing it for me.  I just can't knit lace.  I can't follow charts well; I always have to check on the meaning of symbols.  It's just not intuitive to me.  And, let's face it - I'm not a lacy person, and I'm definitely not a shawl person.  Here's as far as I got before I ripped it all out:

Look down there in the lower right - can you see those loops - just . . . hanging there.  That's part of what made me say - aww, eff it.  Big huge loops that were supposed to have been a purl 15 - and I missed about five of 'em.  Sigh.

So - let's go ANTI-LACE and pick something 180% different - Giselle.  Tons and tons of stockinette, which I thankfully LOVE.  And I'm going to PROPERLY swatch this one. 

Normally my swatching consists of knitting a few rows of stockinette, checking it while still on the needle.  Close?  Good - take off the swatch and let's go.  This time, however, I'm going to do it right.  At the moment I'm knitting a swatch on the recommended needles, US6.  I cast on 35 stitches, knit 4 rows of garter stitch (knit every row) and then started in stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl one row) keeping the first four stitches of each row in garter stitch.  Checking gauge NOW, with the swtach still on the needles, I get 23 sts/4" when I need 21.  BUT - I'm not going to just change needle sizes at the moment - I'm going to continue to knit the swatch so it's long enough that I can accuratelyl check row gauge over 4" and then before I make any final decision - I'll wash and block the swatch.  I want this sweater to be REALLY really wearable and, as such, it needs to fit perfectly.

I *heart* this yarn.

Oh, and I have a finished object to present.  Unmentionables, for my 21-month-old niece who lives in Las Vegas.  My mom is visiting my sister in a couple of weeks and will be taking these out and my sister's promised me pictures of the kiddo wearing them.  Until then, let's admire from afar - because they're just THAT cute:

I think I have discovered that I love stockinette stitch, because this project had miles and miles of it - and so does Giselle.  Ahh . . . stockinette.

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