The year of the sweaters

Well, what do you know. It is 2013.
No resolutions this year, because I don't keep any of them longer than 24 hours anyway.
I want to knit more sweaters or cardigans this year though. I have cast on the first one: The Wave Hello Cardi by very talented designer Melissa Monday.The pattern can be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wave-hello-knit-cardi
Bulky weight, pretty straight forward, should go fast, right?? WRONG!!!
Since I learned my lesson on the Kiloran top,  I swatched this time. 11 st and 16 rows should give me a 4x4 inch swatch. And so it does. Success!
I still have a 39 inch chest and the cardigan is supposed to have no ease. So size L (40 inch chest) it is. The swatch says so after all, right?? WRONG!!!
Cast on the amount of stitches needed for a size 40" chest. This should give me a width of 22.75 inches  for the back of the cardi.
Cast on the required 80 stitches. Knitted 6 rows. The back is 28 inches. Say what?? Okay. So how many stitches should I cast on then? Wait a minute: Math shall be involved. Since 80 stitches gives me 28 inches, x should give me 23. A little math determines that I should cast on for a size S. That's S. You read that right. 68 stitches.
I have knitted the entire border with 68 stitches now and it is right on the money. How a swatch can be right there and then the actual garment is way to big I will never understand.
But hey....I'm a size S!!! I'll take it.

In other news: I went back to college and me, the forever math challenged, has an A in Math so far. I am rather proud of that. It is entirely besides the point that we are learning statistics. It is mostly text right now. And I am good at that.
In history I blew my first quiz to smithereens with 1 point out of a possible 5. I made a conscious choice to pay my rent instead of buying the book for that class. A decision I can live with. I will be able to catch up quickly by the end of the month.
My English professor is simply wonderful. He understands that there are people like me that do grammar intuitively without really knowing the rules or mechanics of it. His class is so far brilliant, even though it is on Saturdays at 8 AM.
He is worth getting up at an ungodly 6 AM.
I shall keep you updated on successes an failures.