Sunday 27 March 2011

If there's a knitting deity s\he hates me

The title says it all. I've had a bad weekend knitting wise.

It all started with my decision to clean my Rose Red my lovely, green, Felted Tweed hat. My first lace project, my first project with any degree of difficulty really. Oh how I loved that hat and how it was complimented by so many people. I was very proud of it. Note the past tense there. My decision to clean it involved putting it in the washing machine with some other delicates as it is allegedly machine washable. Well...not in my washing machine it isn't.

This is my Rose Red now.
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With my hand for scale.

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Bah. I should have known from the noise our washing machine makes on it's spin cycle, both for delicates and everything else, that it was throwing the contents around. At least I know if I want to do a project involving felting my washing machine is great at it.

On the plus side I can now knit a hat with my new Scottish yarn without worrying that I have too many hats already...if such a thing ever is a problem.

On to my second kick in the teeth by the knitting deity...

My February Lady Sweater.

You may recall I thought I was running out of yarn. I couldn't understand exactly how I was running out as I knew I'd bought more than the recommended yardage for my size but sure enough I was definitely running out. I knit the sleeves shorter than I'd planned and was pretty sure I'd make it.


I made it to here, about half way through the cast off on the second sleeve.


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That's where I ran out of yarn. Curses. I threw a bit of a hissy fit and being pretty far from a perfectionist made a decision I know would make many knitters toes curl. I unpicked what I'd cast off already and tinked half a round before that then cast off again. One sleeve is half a round shorter than the other but really, you can't tell. I've never been a perfectionist, there are other little mistakes in the cardigan but that's OK. I claim I'm following the same view of the rug weavers who include an intentional mistakes as only God is perfect. That's it.

I was pleased though, my FLS is finally finished. Done.

In spite of the little issue with the sleeve I'm really happy with it. I love the colour, the yarn is great and it fits really well. I also love the way the buttons work with the yarn. It still needs a little wash to neaten up the stitches (by hand of course!) but I'm wearing it at the moment as I'm so happy it's done I don't want to have to wait for it to dry! Please excuse the rubbish modelling with only semi-dry hair, one day I'll buy a tripod and get better pictures of me wearing my mitts.

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Now it looks like all turned out well doesn't it? I suppose it did. I have a lovely new cardigan and the little adjustments I had to make are hardly noticeable. I should be really happy and for the most part I am, honestly, I am.

The thing that makes me not happy, the thing that made me have a new hissy fit, well...

I was sorting out some of my stash and tidying things away and under my balls of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply I found this:

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I knew I had enough yarn for the pattern, I knew I'd bought enough. There may have been swear words when I found that last ball.

What have I done to deserve this?

I think I may have an answer to that one. I think I am being punished for this:

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That's my pile of WIPs. Note the cuff of the second glove in the pair I'm making for my mum's birthday, her birthday which came and went earlier this month. Oh dear. Also the fish scarf started back in January and four socks, a first of a pair, a second of a pair and a pair knit in tandem.

That's a lot of WIPs, I don't think I've ever had so many on the go at once. I have decided I'm going to get them finished and I will NOT be starting any new projects until I've at least finished the glove, the second Monkey sock and the March mystery socks. I confess I swatched for another cardigan yesterday but I didn't cast on, I'm not going to cast on. No new projects. If I even hint at starting one shout me down.

At least the baking deity likes me.

These went into the oven:

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These came out:

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I can comfort myself in my annoyance with peanut butter and banana muffins, yum yum yum!

I'm looking forward to next week when I shall be blogging daily, oh my. I'm a little nervous and unsure about some of the days but I think I'm ready and I'm excited.

I hope everyone has a great week.

9 comments:

  1. Oh no! I couldn't believe the size of your hat! At least you have the perfect excuse for knitting another one. And how annoying about finding that last ball of yarn too late! The sweater looks fabulous and you'd never know it was missing a weeny bit of sleeve! I am trying to be really strong and not start too many projects, as I found last year that I was flitting from one to another without achieving a great deal. So far, I've stuck to it pretty well, but time will tell! Those muffins look delicious. I don't think I'd be able to only one though!! Happy blogging this week!

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  2. oh wowsers, that hat looks tiny! :( sadness. It's a bit poor on the yarn manufacturer that their so-called machine washable yarn is not actually machine washable. And your February Lady looks lovely :) I probably would have done what you did with the sleeve.

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  3. Oh no your poor hat! How awful, but the cardigan looks amazing. That is going to be worn so much. Oh Felted Tweed how I adore thee! I so wish I could afford a whole cardigan's worth of it. I'm just going to have to loose loads of weight so I can knit small sizes and save money on yarn.

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  4. As my Grandad used to say, "Everything in your favour is against you!" I got half way through the first sentence and started to feel bad.

    I am so sorry about your Rose Red. I remember you making it, and it was gorgeous. It inspired me to make mine. RIP lovely Rose Red. :(

    Your Feb Lady is beautiful, the buttons are so lovely. Unfortunately I am a perfectionist, and I know I would have undone half a row on the other sleeve too! I am going to learn from you and try not to stress over things like this, because nobody would ever know! But as for finding that pesky last ball: I don't think I can type my response to that!!

    All your WIPs are lovely, especially the Citron. Good luck with finishing them.

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  5. Yesterday I realised I had cast on my 10th WIP! So I know how you feel. Luckily, I think I've run out of new yarns/projects, so will have to start actually finishing stuff before I can move on.

    Such a shame your hat died in the wash. But as others have said, a perfect excuse to make another one!

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  6. Your poor hat, I should contact the yarn manufacturer and tell them that you washed it according to the instructions and how it came out. Your sweater is gorgeous, such a lovely colour too, what a shame you didn't find the extra ball sooner, but it still looks fab. Your muffins look very tasty, they wouldn't last long in this house.

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  7. Aww your poor tiny tiny hat. That is heartbreaking. I'm so sorry :(

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  8. wow its gorgeous i have kinda just started really well the pattern bit and its a bit too concertraty for evenings so i am planning to work on it today whilst i am home alone x

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  9. Oh your poor hat, that's horrible!!! Your sweater looks beautiful, even without the hiding skein of yarn to finish it off!

    I see you've figured it out. I too often have many, many WIPs on the needs and I guess that's blasphemy! That's why the Knitting Godess is so unkind to us!!

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