Sunk

Guess what was waiting for me when I got home last night? That's right -- 15 balls of pure cashmere tweed bliss! And while I had every intention of not touching it until I had finished my Great Gatsby dress, I was powerless when I opened the package. I went through my considerable (and messy) stash of magazines and unearthed the correct issue and decided I'd do my gauge swatch. Here's how I justified it -- I didn't have time to finish up the left side and put the shoulder together, nor pick up stitches for either the neck or armhole because I wanted to watch Flash Forward. BUT I could easily knit on a swatch while watching the program, so that's what I did. And believe me, I wanted to just cast on and get going but I really want this to be a nice perfect fitting sweater so I'm going to get gauge, which is 6 stitches to the inch. I started out with the needles called for in the pattern but found I was getting 7 stitches to the inch plus the fabric is a little stiff. So I changed up to size 6 needles which is giving me about 5 1/2 stitches to the inch. So my choice is to use the smaller needle and block it out to fit or use the next size up and have it a little bit bigger. I am going to choose the second option. It's cashmere. I like the softer feel of the slightly looser stitch. And an inch or so of positive ease is not a bad thing for a cardigan.

I had a super good run yesterday. I went 3 miles and I think I'm going to stay at 3 miles for a few weeks and see if I can bring the time down a minute or two. I believe there's a 5K run some time in May ... I should do a search on that. I'd like to get a new PB this spring.