And she's off!

So today, after making enough gauge swatches to make a gauge-swatch patchwork quilt, I finally cast on for my Central Park Hoodie. Because I have morphed into the loosest knitter in the history of humanity, I am using size 3 needles for the ribbing and size 5 for the rest of the sweater. That's three sizes down from what's suggested, and I'm still not quite getting gauge. I chose the size with zero ease, though, and I've heard the thing runs a bit small, so I'm hoping that it won't matter so much if it's an inch wider than it's supposed to be. We'll see. I cannot bring myself to swatch on size 4 needles, so this is just going to have to do. The current plan is to add some waist shaping right above the ribbing and otherwise knit the pattern as written.

In other news, I finally seem to have mastered tubular cast-on. That means it's time to learn Italian tubular cast-on, which doesn't use waste yarn and is therefore better for my budget and the environment.

In other other news, I have especially vicious vertigo today. Why is it that when I have particularly awful vertigo, I can't concentrate on my work but have no trouble concentrating on various knitting-related websites?

(Some people here may not have heard the saga of my vertigo. It's not much of a saga. Sometimes I have vertigo. It's usually a nuisance and occasionally a rather large pain in my ass. It's also the source of my Ravelry handle. I'm sort of amused at all the people who are horrified by those who name themselves "Madison'sMom" or "MommyofTwo," because clearly it's vastly crazier and more pathological to name yourself after a medical symptom.)

And the only other thing is that I do seem to be making some progress on the article I'm trying to churn out. It may be crappy, but it will at least be done. As my friend Lisa pointed out, even if it's rejected, it'll be good to get feedback from some readers.