Playing Hooky, and a Conundrum

Yes, it is the third Wednesday of the month, and yes, I am at home rather than at knitting meet-up at Barnes & Noble. It's already been a very busy week at work, my eyes are tired, and I wasn't thrilled by the idea of trying to drive in the dark. Plus, I thought I'd get a load of laundry done while I'm home. Unfortunately one of my neighbors, whom I will hereby dub the Lazy Launderer, had the same idea. This person decides to do laundry but isn't very punctual about changing machines. His or her first load sat in the washer for at least half an hour before s/he decided to transfer it to the dryer -- and of course put in a second load at the same time. I have a strong suspicion that it is the same Lazy Launderer who, a couple weeks ago, had a wet load of clothes sitting in washer for a good two hours. I wouldn't care so much except that in the load of laundry I need to do are my towels, which I do need to shower tomorrow morning.

The laundry issue is not the aforementioned conundrum, however. Remember how I was going to knit a sweater, like, last week? Although the Mother's Day socks have moved ahead of in the queue, I've been swatching since my Addis arrived from Knit Picks. Therein lies the problem. First I did a swatch on the US 7s that the pattern called for. Didn't make gauge (I got 18 stitches over four inches instead of 16 stitches). So I pulled out a pair of US 8s and did another swatch -- and got the same exact stitch count! Frankly, this doesn't make any sense to my math-impaired brain. I understand gauge enough to know that if I have more stitches than I should in my swatch, the width of my garment will be less than the pattern specifies. But we're talking an extra half a stitch per inch. Plus, the swatches were pretty stretchy, so I would think the ease would help hide the off-gauge-ness. Here's the dilemma: considering the identical stitch count in both swatches, do I use the US 7s, which are my preferred Addi Turbos, or the US 8 Susan Bates circs, which are less preferred? Any input is very welcome!

I ordered some Lorna's Laces for the Mother's Day socks earlier in the week and I hope it'll be here by Friday or Saturday. In preparation, I'm working on my reversal of the pattern for Pomatomus (which, by the way, I recently discovered is actually the genus name of the Bluefish). The leg portion worked fine, and now I'm encountering just a little bit of difficulty with the transition from gussets to instep patterning. I'm not yet ready to show you the full finished product, but here's a little peek:

This picture doesn't capture the true color of the yarn -- it's the Morning Glory colorway of Knit Picks Sock Garden, and the shade are royal purple, deep bluish purple, and bright yellow.

Finally, a note to my readers -- where did you all go? I haven't received a comment in a week, and I'm starting to wonder if I said something to offend everyone. Sorry if I did (and, hey, could you let me know what it was that ticked you off so I won't say it again?). I'm not really finishing for comments here, but darn it if I did get a little used to getting at least a couple to each post. I guess the semi-popularity went to my head. A bit, a bit.