Swatching is good

 So... I have finished the socks for Smallest for Christmas and I'm on to the hats for Sarah and her husband.  These are intended to be like a favorite North Face hat, so I'm being careful about gauge.  I want the hats to be warm enough for the cold, windy NYC evenings.

The pattern calls for size 6 needles (US size), so I went down two sizes like I usually do.  Here's the swatch with size 4 needles before and after blocking (letting it soak for 30ish minutes, and then squeezing it out and plopping on the counter).  I'm supposed to get 28-30 stitches to 10 cm.

This is before blocking.  It looks like 9 cm for 29 stitches.

This is after blocking.  The swatch looks nice, but it's now 12 cm for 29 stitches.  No bueno.

After determining that the size 4 needles weren't going to do the trick, I dropped down to size 3.  My problem is that in addition to being a loose knitter, this is ribbed knitting (k1p1) so for some reason that makes the problem worse for me.  This has happened before with a cowl I made for Middle a year or two ago.  Anyhow, here's the size 3 swatch:

Before blocking, looking promising at 9 cm (again)

Here's the post-blocking, coming in at just over 11 cm.

When it's left to its own devices, it is a little smaller.  That's 9 cm for 28 stitches.

So, I think I'll measure the swatch again when I get home today and see if it's still hanging out at the 9 cm for 28 stitches.  It is also likely that as I knit the hat in the round, my knitting will loosen up a little more.  The fabric is nice and dense, so that's great.  Hats should be warm!  I like knitting a deep brim, so that will be good for keeping ears warm too.  

That's all the excitement I know for now.  Hopefully next week I'll have a fair bit of the first hat completed.  I haven't heard from Middle what the plan is for hats for them, so I'll need to check in about that too.  So many hats!

Margie