And the swatching continues….

I’ve made several swatches for this project. I started out thinking I would make the English Driving Cap out of the same yarn I was going to use for the Watch Cap (I don’t know what I was thinking but it seemed like a good idea at the time). It was a black yarn from a blend of fiber from my alpacas Rosie and                                                                                                                                                          Dominoe.

I must tell you all that I miss my animals ALOT. And I mean ALOT so they will be included in posts ALOT especially since I’m carrying around all their wool with me in our travels (see my post on sock progress for more explanation of my craziness with this).  Also, if you hadn’t noticed, some of them (the girls) are in my header picture. Anyway, back to the swatch. The gauge should be 19 sts and 31 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch on size 6 needles. The gauge of the first swatch with alpaca was off but more importantly I realized that it was too soft to hold the shape of the hat (you think I would have realized that early on in the swatch). On to swatch #2. While I was knitting on another project and finally getting to an episode of LOST Season 6 on DVD, it suddenly hit me (I actually think a skein may have risen up out of my stash and smacked me in the back of the head) to use yarn from my black/brown Border Leicester sheep                                                       Espresso.                                         

The first swatch out of her yarn was with the recommended needle size of 6 but I still didn’t think it had the stiffness I was looking for (and the gauge was off) so I went down a needle size. As I expected the gauge was too small but I felt if nothing else I would have the results in my project journal for future reference. In the end I decided that using 2 strands together with a size 6 needle would give me what I was looking for. I haven’t finished the swatch yet but I think I’m finally onto something. My goal is to get the swatching finished and be casting on by the middle of the week. Progress reports and pictures to come.