Swatching Sunday: Dark Horse Yarn/Super Bowl Edition

I spent Super Bowl Sunday at The Knitting Nest's Souper Bowl party. I had soup and quesadillas, a couple of my non-knitting friends joined us and Stacy was not amused when the Patriots lost.

As is typical for me when it comes to just about any sport, I talked, ate and knit, but basically ignored the game except for some commercials and an underwhelming halftime show. (No wardrobe malfunctions?) And since it was Sunday, I swatched (of course.)

I am making my friend Jen a purse, and after much discussion we (sort of) settled on Dark Horse Yarn Fantasy, a quality synthetic that will take a beating. I decided this would be a good time for a gauge swatch, since I had some of the Dark Horse Yarn left from Jules' Rasta Beanie.

Because it curls so much, I decided to take a picture of this swatch after it is mounted on card stock and ready to go into my binder.

The swatch is unwashed, unblocked and knit with aluminum needles from my Boye Needlemaster.

The bottom portion is about 4.5 stitches and 6 rows per inch on US size 7 needles. The second from the bottom portion is about 4.75 sts and 6.25 rows per inches (9.5 sts per 2 inches) on US size 6 needles.

The top two get tricky, because I seem to get about 5 stitches per inch for both US size 5 and US size 4 needles. The size four is obviously smaller, but I still keep getting the same numbers, with size 4s just a tiny bit smaller. However, on US size 5 I'm getting about 6.75-7 rows per inch, and on US size 4 I'm getting about 7.5 rows per inch.

Another case for bigger swatches. *sigh*