Revelations of a Swatch

There you have it. The "training" was completed last night. It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would, which could mean one of two things: either I am a better and faster knitter than I give myself credit for, or the pattern is not challenging enough. I hesitate to go with the former and sit here patting myself on the back. No matter how good it would be for my ego. Honestly, the pattern wasn't all that difficult. Once I did the foundation rows, I barely looked at the chart. Nothing to it.

Now the revelations: the stash yarn (Patons Country Garden DK--made in Canada!--100%Pure Machine Washable Merino Wool) is not going to cut it. Too bad. The gauge is off. I had to calculate the repeats and add 12 stitches just for a hat. I didn't even want to contemplate how much extra knitting that would mean for a sweater or cardigan. Back to the drawing board or the LYS. Revelation two: I must learn that technique where the end and beginning of each round doesn't show. I don't like how it looks, that little jump. Revelation three: it is in fact helpful to use a stitch marker at the start of each round. I got somewhat cocky, ok, ok, didn't even open my box of stitch markers, and you don't want to know how wonky things started to look. Lost time to fix goof ups and dig out markers. Serves me right. Revelation four: I need a form for blocking hats. The 1kg coffee can only do so much.