To Frog or not to Frog

One of my Works in (limited) Progress that has been sat on the needles for a while is a shawl. It's going to be an Ishbel, but there's a small issue... I've made a mistake in the lace, but I have no idea where *sigh* In fact, I have probably made multiple mistakes, so I really don't think I can get away with frogging the lace section.

I felt like I'd done loads and loads of work on it, so I was reluctant to pull it all out, hence why it has sat in my knitting basket in time out for a while. But when I got it out to take a few pictures, it seems I haven't done as much as I thought.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing *laughs*

Anyway, the shawl in question:

And a better picture of the colours:

The yarn was originally purchased to be socks for my lovely boyfriend. I knit the toes and showed him, and he could see that I had fallen in love with the yarn - he rolled his eyes and asked if I suddenly wanted the socks to be for me *laughs* I said no, actually I thought it would make a really nice shawl.

This is where he gets lots of brownie points - because he immediately agreed that the yarn would be much nicer as a shawl, the colours will look great with jeans, and insisted I rip out the socks and make myself a shawl *grins*

The Frog Pond

As I did a review yesterday of everything that is currently on my needles, I thought it might be interesting to look back at the projects that never got finished, and try to figure out why...

Unfinished Project the First

Feather and Fan scarf. I cast this on very early in my knitting career, before I knew much about anything *laughs* I cast it on too wide, so each row took forever, the yarn was cotton which I didn't like at all and I kept making mistakes but had no idea how to fix them. As lovely as the colours were, and the pattern, I gave up and moved on.

Oh Look, More Cotton

This was the project that absolutely confirmed that I am not a fan of cotton. I can manage a dishcloth or two, but 4 ply mercerized cotton is hell on my hands. The pattern was also pretty confusing - too many "at the same time" instructions *laughs* At one point I think I was keeping track of 5 different things at once, and it just wasn't fun.

Bad Yarn, Bad Pattern Modifications

Ages and ages ago, a colleague gave me some unwanted yarn belonging to his wife and there was this fabulous red colour with enough to make a vest. So I cast on, and immediately despaired. The yarn was acrylic, which I'm not too much of a snob about generally, but this felt like it was made of plastic bags. Ugh. Plus I was using a pattern for a different yarn weight and my maths was clearly so very wrong in trying to work out what I was doing *laughs*


Good Yarn, Bad Pattern

Well, by "bad pattern" I really mean "not the right pattern". I took ages choosing a pattern for this gorgeous 100% silk yarn and I still love the look of the scroll lace, but together they didn't get very far. Also I made a weird mistake somewhere and couldn't for the life of me work out what had gone wrong! The yarn is still in my stash, waiting for just the right thing.


Nothing Wrong, I Just Wasn't Feeling It

I planned to make a vest out of this gorgeous 100% alpaca yarn, but after a few inches it just wasn't working for me. As someone who doesn't like to rip things out if there's nothing actually wrong with them, it was quite liberating to discard this and move on. Again, yarn is awaiting the right project.

Have You Ever Tried to Frog Mohair?

Final project that went no where - my Wisp. Lovely pattern, and I was using Rowan Kidsilk Haze (often known in blogging circles as Cracksilk Haze due to its addictive properties). I made a mistake somewhere along the line and tried to rip things back. And got in a bit of a tangle *laughs* After 4 repeats of the pattern, and 4 mistakes I got fed up ;)

Decaffinated

I finished these socks a few weeks ago but only just got around to taking pictures of them to share... Ooops ;)

These are the long awaited socks I knit for cunning boyfriend. He got the first one for his birthday in February and it took me until August to complete the second one... Bigger ooops *laughs* Luckily he is a very patient person and didn't complain or anything.

Apologies for the terrible, terrible pictures by the way. Bad weather + evening photoshoot + overhead light = truly awful photos *sad face*

Anyway, they fit and are apparently extremely comfortable, so that's the main thing *smiles* After taking this picture, boyfriend seemed to be quite enjoying his stint as a foot model, and threw in a few more poses for your viewing pleasure *laughs*

I used a Knitty pattern called Java socks - something to do with strong coffee I believe.

© Cailyn Meyer

As you can see, the pattern extends down the heel and over the foot - which I knew boyfriend wouldn't like (he has delicate feet). So I only included the pattern on the leg - hence calling these Decaffinated Socks. Comedy gold I tell you *laughs*

The pattern is a really simple 2 stitch cable, with a surprising amount of stretch

Yarn is a simple grey generic sock yarn that works really well for this.

So, despite the photography indicating the contrary, I can confirm that they look great, and according to boyfriend they feel great too *smiles* I of course adapted the foot to include the princess soles that he likes so much.

You know the Friday drill - head over to Tami's, Natural Suburbia and Wisdom Begins in Wonder . Have a wonderful weekend :)

Stash Status Update #2

Last update: 14th February


Total stash (balls): 88.8
Total stash (meters): 17,705
Total stash (yards): 19,362


Since then, I know my stashbusting plans have gone somewhat awry *laughs* I came back from Vegas with this haul:

I also bought 4 balls of Felted Tweed on ebay. I've heard wonderful things about this yarn, and wondered how much it tended to go for, so I put in a low bid to keep an eye on it (as I always forget to check my watch list!). Somehow I won the yarn. Ooops ;)

Then I saw some Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in someone's destash on Ravelry (I know, I shouldn't look!) As it's one of my favourite yarns and is discontinued, I had a look... It happened to be my favourite colour, and a fantastically reasonable price. So I now have 10 balls *laughs*

And let's not forget the 2 skeins of sock yarn I received from my recent lovely swap partners:

Yeah, so much for destashing *laughs*


My consolation for the most part is that I am at least buying garment quantities of yarn, so I should reduce the single skeins of yarn with no purpose. And I have plans for much of the new yarn. I just need to knit faster *laughs*


Current totals:


Total stash (balls): 111.05
Total stash (meters): 21,666
Total stash (yards): 23,393.8

Uh-oh

It's Friday and not only do I not have a finished object to share, I don't even have anything fibery or creative! Uh-oh indeed...

This is partly because I am working on:

• Cardigan that is long and not really inspiring me
• Blanket that will be going on forever
• Giant man socks that take forever
• Socks for me that take a back seat to giant man socks so will also take forever *sigh*

And the other part is down to the fact that I have also been reading more in the last couple of weeks than I have been lately. I do find it hard to get a balance between these 2 activities that I love. I know some people get a lot of pleasure out of knitting while listening to audio books, but that just doesn't work for me. I get so engrossed in a book that nothing can disturb me, and audio books just don't have that same escape. I have heard that some people can knit and read at the same time - again, being so engrossed in the book means that I completely forget to knit *laughs* 

When I started knitting, I was so enthralled that I don't think I picked up a book for a couple of months. This is just about unthinkable for me - I used to read at least 4-6 books a week and often had more than one on the go to suit my mood, there would always be a book in my bag, I'd read walking down the street, etc. So to just stop reading at all was very bizarre (and contributed to me just knowing that knitting and I were meant to be!)

I'm trying to find a bit of balance now, which is slowing my knitting progress slightly, but reminding me how much I love to get lost and immersed in another world. 

To ease myself back in I picked up a copy of a book I adored as a teenager, Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. There's something I love about re-reading books from when I was younger (not least of which is that they take no time at all to read *grins*) I've since started rereading a series by one of my favourite authors, Christopher Brookmyre. In fact, that reminds me, he hasn't brought out a new one in a while... Must check if there's one due! 

I have a lot of books, and a lot of well loved authors. So who knows, maybe I'll strike that elusive balance and post a bit more about what I'm reading as well as what I'm knitting ;)

WIP Wednesday

I really enjoyed participating in my last Work In Progress Wednesday, so I thought it would be a good plan to continue :)

My mermaid scarf has stalled dramatically *sigh* I made a mistake about 6 or 7 rows back and it has completely thrown off the pattern. Unfortunately, this pattern is also really hard to frog, especially with such slippery yarn as pure silk, so this is waiting for me to take the time (and have the patience!) to do it properly.

Here's where I am so far, about twice as long as it was last time... (I didn't take the time to get a good picture as I'm sulking with it at the moment *wry smle*)

My cotton top is making (slow) progress. I haven't given it the attention it needs, so it doesn't look like I've got much further than the last picture I posted of it. I have though. Honest ;) I've done two of the rib sections in the centre panel since then.

I'm using stitch markers to keep track of where the central ribs start, which isn't mentioned at all in the pattern but it seemed like it would be easier than having to count each time!

And finally, the reason nothing else has had much of my attention...

My second sock! I can't wait for this to be finished so that I will have my pair and can start wearing them immediately *laughs* In fact, it's a struggle not to put the other one on my foot by itself, but I'm being very restrained! I am taking it a bit easier on this sock, I made the last one so quickly that I had a sore wrist for about 4 days afterwards, so I'm pacing myself a bit more this time ;)

Anyway, that's where my current projects are; to see more WIPW posts, head over to Tami's blog :)

And stay tuned tomorrow, for I have exciting new yarn to share ;)

Stupid Jumper

It was all going so well *sigh*

I've finished the body and sleeves of the jumper, connected them together in order to do the neck and done the neck... Twice so far.

Picking up stitches went fine, knitting the shorter version of the rolled neck, fine. Then I cast off. My cast off was far too tight, which was a small problem when I realised that once the neck was seamed together, there was no way it would fit over my head (and I have a fairly small head).

So I unwound that, then decided that I'd actually prefer the longer version of the neck (which, frankly I should have known in the first place, I was just being too impatient and wanted to get it finished). So I redid the whole of the neck, with a stretchier (apparently) cast off.

Still too tight.

So, this evening, I will be starting the neck again. For the third time *growls*

This time, I think I'll pick up more stitches than the pattern called for, it's supposed to be a slouchy neck after all, and mine would have been snug around the neck - no wonder it wouldn't go over my head! I may also change to larger needles for the bind off, so that I can make it a little looser... Not sure how well that will work with the pattern though.

I don't know why this part has gone so wrong, the rest was going so well, but my gauge seems to have gone all awry suddenly and I just can't get it to work. But I am determined to. I could probably bodge it slightly to work, but I want it to be done well. I'm certain that in years to come, I'll look back on this first jumper and laugh at how amateur it is, but for now it's the biggest thing I've done and it'll be done as well as I bloody can.

So as to avoid leaving on a sulky and cross note, here is a picture of some pandas.

Aaargh

Well, it seems I named this blog appropriately, misadventures indeed!

I may have got a little overexcited by the whole knitting thing, and a little ambitious. I decided that now that I can knit scarves (2 finished and one still on the needles), it was time to knit socks.

I know a lot of people love sock knitting, and find it an excellent commuting project, so I figured how hard could it be?! So far I have managed to cast on 4 times, poke myself repeatedly with the tiny needles that seemed to be everywhere and create an interesting pattern that I shall call "lace" (but is perhaps, more accurately, some yarn and a bunch of holes!)

So I gave that up for the evening, frustration and impatience not being entirely helpful, and decided to move on. I ordered some gorgeous yarn to make the Sunday Market Shawl, which came in a skein rather than a ball. "No problem," I thought, "I can wind this into a ball in minutes".

Hmmmm...

I should have taken a photo of the yarn spaghetti mess that ensued! Safe to say, something went horribly wrong, leaving me and everything in the vicinity tangled up. Hours of unknotting the damn thing later, I gave up and went to bed! I'm trying to block out the image of what awaits me when I get home, hoping that some effect of being left overnight will have magically turned my mess into a neatly wound ball *optimistic grin*