Sunshine on the Water Makes Me Happy

Sunrise Circle has begun! Yes, I know I just cast on Beach House Kimono, and yes, I still have Lacy Cardigan on needles (and the Karabella sweater, and I'm starting a lace class tonight, and I have all but 6 inches to go on my slip stitch cardigan), but since I joined a Knit-a-Long, I feel very compelled to well, knit-a-long.

I was very worried about the pattern. Line by line, inch by inch, there's an instruction. So many potholes, so many opportunities for things to go horrible awry. But, I found this , and my concerns were alleviated when I saw several finished jackets, with very pleased, satisfied owners wearing them. The postings are curse-free, and everyone seems to be having a good knit. So, I cast on. And, where my friends, did things go awry for me? Of course - gauge.

Because I'm a remedial gaugist, I had a friend (CHRISTINA!!!!) check my gauge for me - and, even though I'm a loose knitter, she had me go up 2 needle sizes, and said, you're good to go girlfriend. I trusted her, and cast on, in my favorite, Silk Garden, of course, and began to knit. The first time (oh, yes, ripping is coming) I didn't pay any attention to how I was going to hem the thing, I just followed along, creating a turning row for sewing later. Then, about 20 rows up the sleeve, I realized I was knitting not a sleeve, but a nose warmer for an elephant. It was huge! So, out it came, and I began to swatch on my lonesome.

Like the Silk Garden Suit (and we all know what happened to that), I ended up on 3's - my gauge was close (5 to the inch), but not perfect (4.6 to the inch). This time, before blindly casting on, I considered the hem, and I thought, hem, I do not want to sew thee. So, I did a crochet cast-on, and knitted up the hem:
and once again, I traveled up the sleeve. When I finished the increasing on the sleeve the instructions said I should be at 13 inches - I was only at 9. Row gauge - uch - so off! I continued knitting, thinking I would block out the problem, by then I got to the raglan, and I pondered. With my row gauge I would be lucky to have a trapezoid, let only a nice pie shape. So with a sigh, I ripped again (not the hem, though, no need to do that again, that can just be a tad smaller), and now I'm traveling along on 5's, and things, cross your fingers, seem to be ok!