Slippery slopes

During vacation, I finally made it back down to one of the best fabric stores in our area, Sew Bee It.  They recently added a yarn to their selections, not just a shelf, a whole room full of yarn.  But I didn't go for yarn though, I went for fabric.  I bought a great beginner sewing/quilting book and was going to buy some fabric for some small practice projects.  The search was on for fat quarters, preferably in pre-coordinated bundles.  Well, they didn't carry but a few bundles and they were all jelly rolls.  A few minutes into trying to mix and match a few on my own but not having a definitive project in mind, my brain cramped.  To relieve the strain, I wandered into the yarn room.  $84 dollars later I had 5 balls of yarn and a sweater pattern in the car.  Now I already have a project going but the cat sat on the pattern.  So, I told myself I'd just swatch a bit.  Previous experience has taught me that I'm going to need a smaller needle than suggested in the pattern.  So I started with a 6, knitted for a while, and measured.  Not even close (which since it was only 1 needle size smaller than suggested didn't really surprise me).  Apparently you can drive a Mac truck through my knitting, so large are my loops.  So I sucked it up and pulled out some 2s, knitted a while, and measured.  Still not right but much closer.  I ended up with 3s.  What am I going to do when I try to knit socks?  Those patterns call for 2s.  By the time I size down my customary 4 sizes, I'll be knitting with fishing line.  Anyway, since I already had the swatching done and the cat was still sleeping on the pattern, I knitted a bit on the pattern.  So now I'm working on a sweater.  Whatever.