True gauge is in the eye of the beholder

I found an adorable sweater pattern that I have been wanting to knit for myself.
I have been putting off knitting because I have been concentrating on spinning
and completing my master spinner #1 class.

Then I broke my foot and was scheduled for surgery the next day.
I found some icelandic yarn I had dyed this summer with madder.
I knit a 4x4 gauge and found that it was way too big...
the yarn was more bulky and the needles too large.
So I went down a size needle and chose the next pattern size down.

I happily cast on 341 stitches, onto 40" circular needles,
with a beautiful wrapped yarn I had been wanting to use.
p1, slip 1 across wrong side, K1, P1,
slip 1 to end, K1 across the right side, for an inch and a half,
then started stockinette knitting.

I took my project to the hospital with me,
and happily passed the time waiting on my surgery.
I was definitely a novelty with the nurses and aides..

I switched from the darkest to the lightest dyed yarns in wonderful stripes
throughout the sweater over the next three weeks.
Yes, I noticed some bleeding of dye on my hands as I knit,
But that didn't bother me too much until I got to the white yarn.
Not only was there a bit of bleeding onto the white, but it was a much thinner yarn.
I decided to rip out the two rows of white and double the yarn.

When I took the needle out, I wrapped the sweater around me to check size,
as it is really hard to find a true size on circular needles,
when you are knitting in one piece.

To my dismay, I discovered that my sweater was going to be 36" too wide!
Now, I was knitting the 2x size, so it wasn't going to be a small sweater to start with,
and I like roomy sweaters.
I ripped all 11" of knitting out and began again.

However this time, I rinsed the yarn until no color bled out.
This took forever, and I am not looking forward to my water bill.
It was kind of fun though, as I am writing my reports for my spinning class,
and part of the description of wool is that it is hydroscopic...
which means it holds 30% of it's weight in water before feeling wet.
This was made very clear to me as I held the skeins under a full stream of water,
and it was only trickling through the yarn into the sink.
Fun!

The skeins are still drying and I have cast on again.

 

This time, I cast on 220 stitches and am making the extra small size.
I love the yarn and hope that the size works better with the yarn.
If not, I have no objection to ripping out again
and spinning a smaller fingering yarn to begin again.