Christmas Sweater WIP

About a month ago I mentioned that I was swatching for a sweater that I was hoping to make my husband for Christmas this year. I can't believe it's been a whole month since then, but I thought I'd check in and show you how it's going.

I've got the back just about done, which I'm really excited about as it's nice to see it taking shape. I'm a little nervous, however, because it's taken me just about a month to knit this since I can only knit when my husband isn't home, and I only have a month left to knit the front and both sleeves... But I'm really hoping to take things up a notch and just try knitting a little faster and to make sure I'm really utilizing all of the time that I have. (aka don't stop knitting for any reason). Hopefully in one month today this sweater will be wrapped and under the tree.

The pattern that I ended up using is called Squall and it's by Michelle Wang for Brooklyn Tweed. The pattern is really clearly written out and the cable pattern was really easy to memorize which makes it a joy to knit. I also love that she gives you instructions on how to work the cable without a cable needle because that really helps to speed things along (which I so desperately need at this point!!!)

Anyway, I just wanted to show you how the sweater was looking so far. I hope if any of you are partaking in some festive knitting that it's going well for you! 

Gauge Swatches and Secret Christmas Knitting

I wanted to do something a little bit different this year for Christmas, and with how happy my husband was with his hand knit hat, I figured I'd knit him a whole sweater. Thankfully I decided this in September, and would have tons of time to complete it, even though I can only knit it when he is not home.

I remembered that there was a pattern that he mentioned liking when I was scrolling through Ravelry one day so I figured that would be a good one to make, cause I already knew that he would like it! I ordered the yarn straight away and was so excited to get my gauge swatch finished up so I could start the sweater. Problem was, after I blocked the gauge swatch it had WAY too many stitches per inch. Like, it was shockingly far off. I'd never had that happen before. I tried making a second swatch with bigger needles and it was still way too far off to make the sweater. It seemed like by the time I got the gauge swatch right I'd be knitting with huge needles, and this would be a see through sweater. 

I decided to abandon the sweater, which was a really tough call because I was really excited to make him the one he wanted as a surprise. I searched Ravelry and found another sweater pattern that I think looks really nice, and seems like it's sort of his style.

The swatches for this one worked out much better. I still had to make a second swatch because the first one was a tiny bit off, but I'm completely certain that when the second swatch is done blocking it will be spot on, and I'll finally get to cast on. (A month later!!) 

I guess the moral of this story is to always knit your gauge swatches, because if I hadn't, I'd be half way to making a sweater that would have been even too small for me and wouldn't have made for a very Merry Christmas. 

I've also decided to finally take my family members' advice and start saving my swatches to eventually be used in a blanket! I thought it would take basically my lifetime to save up that many, but I already have a nice little pile going. I'm excited to see how the blanket will eventually look and I like that each swatch is a little piece of a larger project that I made or - in the case of the tree motif up top - didn't make. I think it would be cool to have a big blanket with a little piece of all of those projects in it. 

I ended up making a pile for worsted weight or heavier type yarns, and a little pile for fingering weight swatches. I'll probably make two blankets eventually so they will be somewhat consistent throughout, even if just in yarn thickness. 

What do you do with your gauge swatches? Keep them forever for reference? Rip them out and reclaim the yarn?