Gauge Swatches LIE!

So in a moment of utter insanity, I signed up for the Ravelympics. I've had the pattern and yarn for A Walk in the Woods since May, before we went on the cruise. I thought, "Hey, I can knit a cardigan...in 2 weeks." What in the heck was I thinking. I didn't get it started until Saturday. I had swatched earlier in the week, and re-swatched Friday night. The pattern called for size 6 needles. I made gauge with size 9. Then I merilly cast on. About 4 or 5 rows in the the pattern, it was quite obvious that the actual product and the gauge swatch were two entirely different beasts. A sweater whose back was supposed to measure 24.5 inches was more like 27 or 28 inches. So I went back down to size 7s. This is pretty close. The material is quite stretchy, so I'm hoping it will work. If not, at least I tried. Here's my progress thus far...about 3-4 inches of the back. The picture is dark and blurry, but at least it's something.

I have a 4 day weekend this weekend. Today is my birthday...#34. Just another day at this point. But yesterday was awesome. Catie, her friend (Gesa's daughter) and I had a "girls' day" out. We went to lunch, Build-A-Bear, the bookstore, for tea anc cookies, and to get a hair cut. I don't know about them, but I was EXHAUSTED at the end of the day. They seriously wore me out! Here we are leaving home:

The girls with their haircuts and "ponies"

And just so Jack didn't feel left out, here's one of him. Looks like HE's the one who really needed the haircut. He's quite scruffy.

I have tomorrow and Monday off. Knitting and more knitting are in my future. Monday night I'm taking a 2 socks at once class. I'm hoping that will speed up my sock knitting some. Other than that, things are pretty boring. I'm looking forward to a morning of sleeping in. Assuming the kids are agreeable to that. Please oh please oh please!