You say tomato, I say tomahto

Today Simba and I were stunned to learn a rude lesson in needle sizes. It seems that, like shoe's or bra's, not all needle sizes are actually the same.

If that doesn't make much sense, check this out: Clover's bamboo double pointed size 2 needle is 2.75 mm and size 1 is 2.25 mm. But, other brands (and this seems to be the norm), like Knit Picks size 2 dpns are 3 mm and size 1 is 2.5 mm. This may not seem like a huge difference, but when you're knitting with small yarn and need a gauge like, oh, 7.5 stitches per inch but end up with something more like 6.5 stitches, that extra stitch adds up quickly. In fact, it could add something like an extra 10 stitches to your sock. NOT GOOD.

So if a pattern says to use size 2 dpns, one cannot assume that they will meet the appropriate gauge. One cannot also knit a quickie swatch and assume that the variances she see's are just fine and start knitting with the supposed "correct" needle. No, this is not what one should assume.

You'd think that after all this time, I'd have learned my lesson by now. I'm just not a fan of gauge swatches! I can admit that. Especially when it's a yarn like the one I'm using today that's multi-colored and hard to"read."

Thankfully, Simba gave me some moral support by being equally enraged at these needle size differences.