Calculation breakdown

I've almost finished knitting a short-sleeved v-neck sweater in the beautiful blue Marble Chunky I picked up at DW 2011. I used a preset size in Knitware, and I weighed my swatch, in order to calculate whether or not I had enough yarn (I only have 500g). Well, I've only one sleeve left to knit, and yet I've 200g left over. Not sure now whether to carry on with the design, bearing in mind I've done the front/back and v-neck ribbing, or whether to rip it out and start again. Not sure how come the weight calculation was so off - by my calculations, I should only have had enough for three quarter length sleeves. Knitware is usually spot on when it comes to calculating yardage, so not sure where I went wrong. I've only one more sleeve to knit, and it is only 34 rows in total.

Looking at what is left, I could have long sleeves and still have enough for a matching scarf and hat. Decisions, decisions. The yarn is plied from two colours which are variegated - so there is indigo, green and purple in amongst the blue, which is a sea blue itself. Being variegated means I am less keen to re-knit it too often as yarn changes will be obvious.

I tend to get quite hot when wearing jumpers (especially long-sleeved ones in acrylic) so perhaps I'll leave as is - it's more likely to get worn with short sleeves. The irony is that the winters here are usually mild enough that jumpers are rarely worn - doesn't stop me knitting them, of course, but it does mean that the local charity shops often benefit from my work. I knit them for the fun of the process but do not always like the end results. I do have another 1000g of this yarn in a pastel colourway - most of it is currently a crocheted top which is far too warm to wear, so needs unpicking. I'm thinking (seeing as I still have the tension details for it) that perhaps that can become some kind of waterfall cardigan, because there is more yarn to play with.

Of course, the last two winters have been very cold and the cold weather went on 'til May this year (at least, that is when it warmed up enough for us to turn the heating off at home) so perhaps the trend is for cold winters for now. An excuse to dig out and wear my jumpers at last! Cold is relative, of course - I'm sure my friend in Finland will think our winter temperatures pretty balmy. Last winter's record for us was minus 7 centigrade, I think.

The Dream Week cardigan is in a kind of limbo at the moment - when it is washed, the ribbon part pulls up - so it's like one of those ruffle blinds that were all the rage in the 80s. Luckily it's not permanent shrinkage, but I'm thinking I might need to do some more tacking down with the sewing machine. Or never wash the thing. One or the other! It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Oh well, never mind!

I've plans to start swatching with some lovely Peaches 'n cream worsted cottons, too. I've made a few nice things with the cotton - a top for my niece, a peg bag, a shopping bag or two, but not gotten around to making anything nice for myself with it. It seems to go quite a long way so hopefully there'll be enough to cover my ample curves. I'm trying to get my stash down a bit. Yes, I've said that before. Ironically, I still don't seem to have the exact yarn thickness or colour when I want it. Funny, that!