Wintergarden Gauge Swatch

The yarn I'm using for Wintergarden came on Halloween so after taking the Ducklings around town I made the World's Most Cheating-est Gauge Swatch ever:


  


Even though it's barely enough to measure, I learned a lot from the gauge swatch.

I chose 60 stitches because that's the number one casts on for the sleeves of the sweater and in reading through the pattern it seemed like a SMALL number for my favorite bamboo circular needle.

I used my pair of same-sized (US 3) Addi Turbos in the two-circular-needle method which served me so well for hats last winter...and discovered I couldn't stand the infernal clanking of the needle ends.

Solved that problem by switching back to my favorite bamboo and using the "magic loop" method but it was still uncomfortable so I'm glad the sleeves get bigger as they progress.

I also noticed that my gauge with just one color held in my usual (left) hand was a LOT looser than my gauge with two colors, which is why there's that practically ruffled effect at the top and bottom. Said observation led me to decide to do the hem facing not just on a needle two sizes smaller but also with the yarn held in my right hand which produces a tighter knitted fabric.