What is this 'gauge' you speak of.

Gauge, originally uploaded by jen.fotos.

I was knitting my plain ol' shiney scarf when I glanced over and saw my Knitting Tarot, which has long been on my list of "things to knit a cozy/sweater for." (Other things on list: myself, cats, wine bottles, teapot, Helo.)

The traditional meaning of this card, Justice, goes something like this: "With Libra as its ruling sign, Justice is about cold, objective balance through reason or natural force." The Knitting Tarot meaning of this card, well, I didn't read it in the book because "BLOODY, SODDING MATHS" sums it up exactly. Gauge is not my friend. We are not on speaking terms. Every time we converse, I consider taking out a restraining order. So it went something like this:

"OH HELLS NO. You know, that deck is pretty big, I'm just gonna throw a bunch o' stitches on there and see what happens, and ... yeah I think if it works out, I'll take it as a sign that gauge can BITE MY SHINEY METAL ASS."

I have about 8 rounds done now, and so on my break at work I stretched it out a bit on the DPNs and took stock. It seemed big. Hmmmm. Now I can't even remember how big the deck is. This could be trouble! But, it's okay. I have the internets! Maybe there are dimensions at the Knitting Tarot website? And what do you know, THERE WERE! Rawk. Except, those numbers just didn't seem right to me. The deck is taller when stacked, right? I forget. It's TALL. I can't even shuffle it properly. But the numbers on the website (3.5 x 1.75) were not even close to what I'd done so far, nearly 16" in diameter. I called the roomie.

"Please go upstairs and measure my tarot deck."
"Okay. *pause* It's 1 and five-eighths high."
"FRAK!!!"

YOU WIN AGAIN, GAUGE.

But actually, I think this will be okay. I'll do a couple more rows, and then decrease a little. This will make the top, above the drawstring, a little ruffley. Which is what I totally meant to do in the first place!