Better late than never........we think

So first off sorry for such a delay in writing. Have you ever noticed how life will throw stuff at you at the worst possible time??? The bills come after you already had your shopping day, or your kids come running into the room screaming and yelling as you lose a dpn (double pointed needle for those new to this fun called knitting).
It happens and its how we deal with it that make it either crazy or just a mild annoyance. I think as a knitter, this may apply to all knitters, that I have developed a higher patience. I use to never be able to do anything that I wasn't good at because I hated the idea of having to redo anything. Now I am making up my own patterns and unripping, sometimes over 20 rows, without the bat of an eyelash.
In all of my knitting I have discovered one thing. Swatch. I was one of those that thought them a waste of time and why the heck would i need one. I was wrong. even if you do a few rows of 20 stitches and it takes you 5 minutes, thats saving you like.....4 hours of painful unripping and reknitting that you might have to do. I am making a sweater for my father. My first sweater and my first major project other than hats. Guess what I have an equivalent yarn to the pattern and I have a set of needles that are close to the same size as called for. Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear devices. I put the back up against my fathers back and let out a moan of dispair. It comes down approximately 4 inches longer than its suppose to and it wraps it around, past where the side seams should be by 2 inches. Heart broken, I went to my life advisor (aka my wonderful mother) and whimpered what do i do. She said keep going. Your father loves you and loves that your making him a sweater and he will wear it proudly even if it is to big. So that is what I am doing. Back is done, the left and right fronts are done, Now onto the sleeves. The sweater is.....consistently big. And it is done with love. And the patience and wisdom i have learned while doing 16 miles of stockinette stitch is astronomical. I have also learnt how to knit from left to right so i dont have to turn my work. Its AMAZING.

And just so you aren't worried about me carrying on without guage swatches, I have learned my lesson. The sweater I am doing for myself had 3 gauge swatches, all wash blocked and dried before taking any measurements.