riiiiiiiiip part deux.

Before:

I am having gauge issues with the ribs and lace tank. I almost got gauge with 5.5 mm needles, but once I started the sweater I realized the fabric was quite loose. So I swatched with 5.0 mm needles and the stitches look much better, but I have too few stitches per inch. Hmm. I did some calculations, and with the larger needles the waist would be 40.5 inches around...! Yowza! That's way too big. With the smaller needles, the waist is 34 inches. Much better, but it still seems rather large. I finally decided that I could accept the sweater turning out smaller than the pattern.

After:

Time to start over with the smaller needles. My goal is to finish the tank by the end of May, so I'd better get cracking! I am still working on the swatch for the rib portion, with 2.5 mm needles. It knits up nice and tight, which is good, but I'm not sure yet how it will compare to the pattern gauge. I refuse to measure it until the swatch is complete! Which would be tonight if I stopped blogging and started knitting...