Has the world gone mad?

I don't know what the world's coming to, I really don't.

Not only have I acquired a cat (s/he's very well, thanks for asking. It brought me a rabbit this morning. This is worrying news. It obviously feels I need to be impressed. Not so.) but I have done two swatches in two days. I have also posted twice in two days. The apocalypse cannot be far behind.

This is the swatch I made from the Giotto that had been the ill-fated cardigan (which we, in our house, always pronouce "car-dig-an" because that's the way #1 daughter said it the first time she read it. We are not, as you may have guessed, big car-dig-an wearers.):



I'm hoping this is going to be that bolero/jacket thingie I told you about the other day.

Naturally, the loose woman is not using the 15mm (!) needles suggested. I thought about 10mm but only had straights in that size. Straights I really, really don't like. I use circular needles for almost everything these days - knitting round and round (obviously) but also knitting back and forth. I just like them better. The weight is sitting in your lap and not moving from side to side with every row, causing a strain on the wrists, the arms, the back, everything. I tell you, when you get to my venerable years, strain is anathema. So the nearest size circs were the good old Addi 9mms. What do you know? The stitch gauge is bang on. The row gauge is not so far off (10 rows/10cm against the 8rows requested). I am up and running. I might have to make some adjustments in the rate of increase for the sleeves but the rest of it is plain sailing.

Which is more than can be said for the beginning of the tablecloth:



I managed fine with the skinny (technical) yarn - it's the soy silk that Kiki sent me - and Emily Ocker's circular start. ( I'm not going to give a link to that again. Google is your friend.) I did fine up to round 5, where I ended up with 48 sts, as per the chart. Next instruction tells me to knit rounds 6-10. No mention of any increasing. I just did what it said. I've still got a total of 48 sts at this stage. Round 11 turns out to require 60 sts. I am 12 stitches adrift, through no fault of my own. Further investigation reveals that I can fudge it here but later on will come up against the same problem. I forebore from throwing the thing across the room because, in my experience, that can cause the stitches to unaccountably fly off the needles. I have set it, gently, down on the table and left it to ruminate on its faults. We shall see if it is more contrite in the morning.

Finally, the secret can be revealed. It's my not-a-Barbie sister-in-law's birthday tomorrow (which is technically today). Earlier on I went to see her and gave her the present I had made for her. This was partly because I didn't know what her plans for tomorrow/today were, and partly because I just couldn't wait to give it to her and see if she liked it as much as I did.

She liked it:



Close up of the button - the one the chap in the shop gave to me:



Here's the back (because as #1 daughter said, "It looks like you're wearing a cardigan." and I wouldn't want to give anyone the wrong impression):



It's basically a glorified scarf with a button on it. It's not rocket science.