Loosey Goosey

I started my strip for the Obama Afghan a few days ago, and learned that apparently I am a very loose knitter. The gauge given was 18 st over 4 inches on size 8 needles, so I cast onto my size 8s and went to town. Several inches later, it was too loose. So I switched to size 7s, but it was still a smidge too loose. I ripped it all out and started again, this time knitting tightly (I would have gone down to size 6 needles, but they're otherwise occupied right now). Bingo. However, I fear that knitting a strip over 5 feet long very tightly will wreak havoc on my hands. Good thing I just bought a big bottle of aspirin!

And that laceweight merino I wanted to use? I decided to screw around with it, and try out a Pi shawl. The idea is that the circumference of a circle doubles every time the radius doubles. So you cast on the center few stitches, and increase to double that number every 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 (and so on) rows. I found that the first few rounds were super tricky. When you only have one or two stitches on each of four needles, it's very hard to see which needle is supposed to come next- I had to number my needles so I could keep them straight. I've got about an 8 inch diameter circle now, and frankly, it looks like ass. I'm just going to keep going and see what happens... chalk it up to a learning experience. When I move up to a bigger circular needle, I'll post pictures. Right now I've got to get moving on that strip!