More swatching and the "real" yarn

Filomena was kind enough to send along a link to the yarn used in the pattern. Looking at the photo in the magazine, there was no way to tell it was a tape yarn - I have always appreciated magazines that showed a length of yarn next to the pattern - not that I ever use the suggested yarn :-)

Did a bit more on my second swatch:

Notice how the railroad/ribbon yarn does not pull in as much as the cotton swatch did - this tells me it would make a boxier sweater. The gauge is 5 stitches to the inch on the same needles (unstretched), which makes it a bit too big. On the plus side, it would be a shiny, glamorous, certain-to-be-noticed sweater. On the negative side, notice the big, messy pile of yarn that fell off the ball while I was working with it. And the needles fell out five or six times because the yarn is so slippery.
And the yarn is so shiny it was difficult to see the difference between the knits and purls so I had to keep redoing (OK, I was watching a tape of Starting Over this morning while I was working on this...)Definitely not fun yarn to work with - but I wouldn't mind using it up just to get rid of it before it falls off the balls.

Switched to another swatch - this is a ribbon called Marbella by Trendsetter. It has a bit of body so it is MUCH easier to knit with. Unfortunately, it also does not have any stretch to the ribbing...

Guess it is time to get some shut eye and see how I feel about my swatches in the morning. See you later!