Gauge is a funny little thing and often hard to measure. After I wrote yesterday's post, I nearly ripped this piece out to retry with a smaller needle. I was sure I was knitting a monstrous sized square. Prior to beginning the cables, the width was 13 inches-a full inch wider than the 12 inch square was supposed to measure. I had a change of heart though and told myself I'd knit a back to match and call it a pillow. I'm glad I did. Once I began the cables, the width shrunk to 12 inches. Since gauge is supposed to be measured on the stockinette portions of these squares, I'm a little hard pressed to find spots to measure it, but without trying, I seem to be spot on. Better yet, I have row gauge too and that NEVER happens. Smaller needles would have led to catastrophe. Now I wish this was the yarn I was supposed to be using all along and not the practice yarn.
The pictures represents the border, one full pattern repeat and then some. So far, so good. It took me hours to get to this point and although it's going slowly, I'm at least memorizing the cables. I can advise though that this is not something one could knit while enjoying a glass of wine-it requires way too much attention. Since I'm a third of the way through and going blind already, I'm thinking of writing out the pattern on index cards with each row having its own card. I can attach the cards with a ring and flip through the pattern that way. It's either that or go buy a monocle.
