A Quick Update

Good news on the knitting front!  I finished the socks last night - I'll post a picture before too long.  I'm pleased with them, but then both the pattern and the yarn were safe bets for me.  More astonishingly - when I picked the gansey back up this evening it turned out that I can indeed safely knit in the dark on a winding road!  I managed to join in the round accurately, and not to mess up any of my stitches, all without really seeing what I was doing.  The gauge on this knit continues to confound me, though.  I am working on about 20% fewer stitches than my carefully blocked gauge swatch told me I would need, but seem to be getting the required circumference.  Even more strangely, I still seem to be getting the gauge I had on the swatch, but the sweater is knitting up bigger all the same.  How did those women and children who knit away on ganseys while herding sheep and keeping house ever manage predictable sizes, when I can't fathom gauge with all my modern amenities?