Just a a little something I whipped up

After the socks I just finished, I wanted (still do) to make more. However, I'd like the next socks I make to fit a little better and for the fabric to be a little more dense. So it was time to swatch on a smaller needle, a size 1 to be precise. I have a size 0 circular needle, too, but that's for a special occasion. The last time I did this, the method I used for figuring out gauge in the round (which is different from knitting back and forth) did not actually yield accurate results. The best way for me to figure out my gauge if I'm going to knit something in rounds is to knit something around. Kind of like the tube I made when I learned magic loop but with more purpose.

So I took this yarn in the first picture, cast on 66 stitches on my size 1 needle, joined the round, split the stitches for magic loop, and made a long tube.


This is the tube. I've seen patterns for items like this on Ravelry, and I thought that a similar item would be perfect for an in the round gauge swatch, plus that's one less thing that I'll throw in the trash today. I know that I'll end up making more of these.

And I love this yarn. It's not particularly expensive, and I suppose that the self-patterning aspect has a certain novelty connotation, but this allowed me to watch TV and knit something pretty cool looking at the same time without having to do all the heavy lifting that colorwork requires.