Miles and Miles of Stockinette

I cast on the sweater this week. I've got the ribbing done and about three inches of the stockinette. Of course it's done in panels, and I'm only on the back one. And of course it's going to be 25 inches long, so I've got miles and miles of stockinette to go. And of course I'm knitting it on 12 inch straight needles. Because that's the way I roll. (I have 36 inch circulars hidden in my yarn bag just in case I decide that knitting 94 stitches of bulky weight yarn on 12 inch straight needles is wicked stupid.)

Getting gauge for this sweater was like pulling teeth. And I'm not convinced that just because I finally got gauge in my third and final swatch that I'm actually going to get gauge in the actual sweater. Gauge is a tricky thing. It's ephemeral. It's a will o' the wisp. And I think it's largely imaginary, like Narnia. Or Earthsea. Or Middle Earth. Or Darth Cheney's heart.

Really.

The swatch of doom

My hope for getting gauge.

Feh. If it fits when it's done, I've done my job.

But now that I've got some inches of stockinette complete, I really feel like I'm actually knitting something. When you have the first few rows of ribbing done, it doesn't really look like anything. You know it's a sweater, or going to be a sweater, but no one else looking at it has any idea what it's going to be. A tent? A chuppah? A blanket? An aeroplane? But it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas like a sweater. Well, at least in my imagination.

Here's what it looks like right now. I don't know about you, but I'm impressed!

The yarn I'm using is Lamb's Pride Bulky (colourway, blue flannel), and I've used this before and never had a problem with it. However, in the skein I used for the swatch, and in this, the first skein of the sweater, there are knots. Just who the hell does Lamb's Pride think it is? Noro Silk Garden? I expect knots in Noro, and while I'm never surprised when they turn up, I'm always disappointed. But knots in Lamb's Pride? Who the hell is running Quality Control? If there's a knot in each skein, I shall be wicked unhappy.

Le sigh. I'll cut the knot out and begin a new row as if I were adding a new skein. 

Knots in the yarn. Honestly.