Persisting despite it all.

You know how instructions for circular knitting always say "join, making sure to not twist?"

Yeah. I finally managed to get a twist in my knitting, and I've been persisting, regardless of the mistake. I'm knitting a self-fringing scarf, so it will be cut open at the end anyhow, and I figured, oh, what the heck.

It's a lot easier to knit when it's not twisted, but at this point, I'm Committed.

Speaking of which, I just jumped into another project, thanks to the ladies I met today for a KIP in the park. I may have found a group to hang out with. They're knitting mitered squares for a sock yarn blanket, and swapping yarns. Of course, this sounded like a fantastic idea to me because it's really pretty, on tiny needles, and is going to take up an insane amount of time. And we all know how quickly I knit things these days.

While sitting outside, I worked on my Charade sock. Pretty. See?


One slight problem:

It's too big. So, I'm going to have to think about what I want to do to make these work. The patterned section isn't as stretchy as the rest of the foot. Going down a needle size for the foot isn't going to work, because I don't want to compress this yarn any more. I might just use the gauge for the plain section, rip back to the heel, decrease faster for the gusset and knit the rest of the sock plain. Haven't decided yet.

I'm itching to start new things, but I really want to get some of the old projects to go away. I've now completed 12 pattern repeats of the Trellis scarf, out of a total of 23. Which means I'm now feeling motivated to try to knit one repeat a day, which would get me a pretty lace scarf, and a clear needle in 2 weeks. I have a second sock for my husband - finished decreases, so plain knitting to the toe. That's not more than a week of knitting (I dislike the yarn.) My Badia still needs seaming, as does the Cutaway cardigan. Tangled Yoke is still waiting for the arms to be joined to the body, and I only have a yoke to knit. I'm also about 50% and 75% done with 2 other laceweight scarves, because I'm nuts and seem to not knit with anything thicker than fingering weight right now. I'm craving sweaters and a new shawl, and I have an afghan that requires seaming (but we aren't talking about that today.)

I think it might be fall, finally.

Ehhhhh....

Ok, I just sewed in the ends of Ishbel. It's pretty. It feels nice. It looks really stupid on me. Worn with the point in back, I look dumpy. Worn like a bandana, it adds a huge amount of weight to my front, where I'm already topheavy. Not a good look. Kind of slung to the side, it looks like I'm trying too hard.

I finished a pair of socks tonight. They're a full inch too short. Knit top down, after repeatedly trying them on. How did I miss that? Plus, they're more red than orange, and I really wanted orange.

I ripped out a lace scarf tonight. I just wasn't liking the project, it had stalled, and I decided it needed to go.

I was about to start another pair of socks, and I'm not sure I like the yarn.

I'm on a roll. Maybe I should just give up and go to bed.

Might as well finish the post with a photo of the black widow spider who took up residence near my back door a few weeks ago. She's gone now, as it wasn't a good place for her to be. The little spiders nearby I think are males. Click on over to see it bigger, if you like. (Or run away, if you don't like spiders!) I thought she was a beautiful spider, but it just wasn't safe to let her hang out too close to us.

Two sleeves down.

And a yoke to go.

Bells recently started Tangled Yoke, and as I don't want this to be another time that she completes a sweater I started years ago before I finish mine. I had one sleeve already knit, and just finished the second one moments ago.

They are, however, off on stitch count from what they should be according to the pattern. Not hugely, just a few here and there, so I'm planning on adding in the extra 2-3 stitches per sleeve (one sleeve is short 2, the other 3) when I join the whole mess together.

Just not tonight.

Should I be more concerned about this? I tried the sleeves on, and they fit just fine. But at 6 st/inch, this is not insignificant... Then again, I'm okay with being a sloppy knitter.

It's official.

I'm in a bit of a knitting funk. It's not unusual in August, at least not for me. I frogged the Go With the Flow socks. They were okay, but the pattern wasn't centered and I'm not sure I really like all the holes in the socks. Maybe lace socks aren't me?

I'm thinking I might use the yarn for the Lace Ribbon scarf that was in Knitty. But I don't feel like working on it. And I'm not in the mood to knit Badia right now, because it's humid and the yarn feels sticky. The Twisted Yoke Cardigan is making me feel guilty as I've neglected it so long, and it's absurd that I haven't seamed Cutaway.

I have 2 other socks on the needles, and I don't want to knit those. I frogged a shawl I was loving as I knew I had made an error and I lost my place in the charts. I picked up a lace scarf I was working on, ripped back a mistake, and put it down. I'm going to try casting on a new pair of socks while I do some social knitting this afternoon, but really, I'm afraid I've lost my mojo.

When nothing's really grabbing you, what do you do? Rip out all the stuff that isn't working? Cast on something new? Take a break for another hobby?

Annoyed.

I just don't know about this yarn.



We've talked about it before, a long time ago. I don't like it. If I had seen it in person, I'm not sure I would have purchased it.



I did start knitting Leyburns out of this, and it was okay. I stopped because I needed to make changes to the pattern to fit my own foot better. I really don't like this sock now, and I don't know what I was thinking. Well - I do. The yarn was there, and I felt like casting on for this pattern RIGHT NOW, and I got gauge, and now I'm not sure. This is the Bartholemew's Tantalizing sock pattern from Cat Bordhi's new book. It's interesting, but I'm finding it too fiddly for my current mood.

So I just spent the better part of an HOUR ripping the sock back. Why and hour? Because the yarn tangled as I was trying to rewind it. It wound up on itself. It tangled at both ends. It attempted to choke my ballwinder. When I finally pulled the yarn cake off, it came off a total mess. And now? Now I am so annoyed by this yarn, yarn that I was seriously considering taking scissors to, that I have thrown it on the couch upstairs and walked away. I'm not knitting it anymore.

Do you want this yarn? Can I send it to you? It's a mess - I know, but if you love it, it's yours. Because we're done here. I'm happy to send it to a good home. Otherwise, I'm either going to be found guilty of yarn abuse or I'm going to chuck it.

Now I'm going to start a vest. I need a momentary sock break, and I had a sudden vest obsession this morning. I still have a cold. Happy 4th of July.