Knitting Lessons: Gauge And You

Hello swatching, my old friend.
I've come to be let down again.
I know you lie about your stitches per inch,
But maybe if I tighten you up a pinch...
Alas.... my gauge is just too far gone
Another one
Lost.... to the lies.... of swatches.
(Somewhere, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are twitching violently or rolling over in their graves. Are they still alive?)

Yes, well. I finished Domovoi about two weeks ago, while I was on vacation. I will take pictures eventually, I promise. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. So, fresh off the FO high that binding off brings, I scavenged some yarn from my mom and cast on for Wendy Bernard's Skinny Empire from her book Custom Knits (I highly recommend it). I don't believe in swatching. Or, well, I just never do. But this time I decided I was going to knit a swatch in the form of the start of the sweater. I'd get enough rows in to check my gauge, and then we'd all be peachy.
Well, the yarn I was using was a bit thicker than what Wendy used, so I'd expected to be a little bit off. That wouldn't have surprised me.
The gauge was supposed to be 24 stitches and 28 rows to 4". I made 14 and 16. So there goes that. I didn't feel like ripping out the whole thing and casting on for a smaller size (which I guess I could have viably done) so I just stopped where I was and pulled the needle out. It was using a ball-scrap, so it's not like I was losing much yarn. I'll give the rest back to my mom when I see her tomorrow. Patrick and I are going to Woolbearers the lys to shop around for some better yarn for me.
Lorna's Laces is a bit expensive.... anyone have a good idea for a replacement? It's sportweight, I think. No one really tells you.

I've been very busy with work recently. I just finished a six-day stint broken only by Thursday as an off day. If I worked Thursday, I'd be doing eleven days straight. That's enough to drive anyone over the deep end.
Luckily for me, Patrick's mother had a pool put in this summer, and it just opened yesterday. So when I get back from work, over heated and miserable from standing next to a 450* oven for several hours, swimming is a wonderful thing. We're trying to see if his dogs will come in, but they don't realize the steps are there so it makes them nervous. They do like drinking the water, though (eww!). '

I don't really have much that's blogworthy right now. I know I missed a few Sunday Fiber Photos, but I've been simultaneously ridiculously busy and incredibly tired. The heat combined with the humidity has been hell on my sleeping pattern.
So I'll blog again some time this weekend and show off some stuff.

"Reality is not for me and it makes me laugh."
~Paul Simon