Now that the holidays and VK Live are over, i decided it was time to start my "year long knitting tribute" to my mother-in-law, dear friend and knitting buddy, Mary. There are four families that are extremely close. All the children are like cousins to each other and the oldest one is the first  to have a baby.  We all feel like we are going to be grandma's :) i couldn't think of a better project to start with - the celebration of a new life. 

So project #1 is a Be Sweet Bamboo baby hat. I knit the first one (on the right) using wood, double pointed needles. My knitting is quite even (if i do say so myself) and you can never tell where my fabric moves from one needle to the next. Maybe, because of the Bamboo, it did show and i was unhappy with it. It ends up that after blocking, the fabric was perfectly smooth. I guess I should have blocked it out first... (lesson learned)

Anyway, I decided to knit a second one, using a circular needle. same size, also wood. even the same needle company AND look at the difference in the size of the hats?? Btw, i knitted them at the same time of day, even on the same couch. So all variables were the same. 

We have always told our customers that you must swatch in the needle you are going to use. This is a clear example of why that is so. The movements you use with dp's is so different than circs whether you realize it or not. The same goes with one metal to the next or wood vs metal. Your gauge will really vary. 

I had no intention of this knitting journey to be an educational one, but it looks like I am going to be sharing of lot of "look what happened" or what i discovered along the way.