Damn you cardigan of doom!

Welcome to my first WIP Wednesday of 2011

This is what I had of the blasted cardigan of doom on Monday:



Also a closer look at the now correct cable pattern:



Now I have a tale of woe for you. As I knit up the front and changed to my 10th and final ball of Patons Pompero I thought "hmmm, not a lot of yarn left there". I kept knitting on as my ball got smaller and smaller and I started to panic. I tried knitting faster, the age old knitter response to running out of yarn, I'll see if I can out-knit it. It didn't work. Last night I had about 50cm of yarn left but 10 rows of the front and 16 rows of the cable band that goes round the back of the neck to go. I think I responded admirably, I didn't throw the knitting across the room, I didn't stamp and sulk. I was very mature. I know this was entirely my own fault. I bought the exact number of balls of yarn stated in the project, an amateur mistake. I noticed much earlier in the project that it was eating yarn and even then I made no attempt to get more. I just left it. ARGH!

I now have to hunt down a ball of Patons Pompero in Taupe which will be totally the wrong dye lot, so far I've found it online but I'm looking at just under £3 plus postage, I didn't pay that per ball when I bought it from Kemps last February. Annoyed doesn't begin to describe how I'm feeling now whether I accept it's my own damned fault or not.

Blast and dash and darn and flip.

I also have a new project to show you, it would appear that I am powerless to resist a bit of lace of some description (the cardigan and both my sock projects being cabled in nature) and I wanted to try out a project from my new book, Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders: 101 Patterns That Go Way Beyond Socks. Back when I was a new sock knitter I purchased a ball of rather delightful Wendy Happy and intended to knit socks with it as it was with the sock yarns in the shop I bought it from. I then read reviews about it not really being all that great for socks with little or no stretch and going out of shape when forced to be socks. It sat in my stash doing nothing and perhaps feeling a little hurt as I hadn't a clue what to do with it. I then found this pattern, a scarf with a fish motif "swimming" up it, perfect for my yarn which is in the Pisces colourway!

School at Play Scarf



I think my favourite thing about this pattern is the texture on the fish. It uses a stitch I've not used before "make 2 from 2" where you k2tog, leave on the needle then k2tog tbl. It makes a pretty texture which is supposed to look like scales on the fish and does look rather lovely and add an extra bit of interest to the scarf.



I've only knit the first repeat and I like how it's turning out, unfortunately my mother whose birthday is in early March (and is therefore a Pisces herself) has taken rather a shine to it and I'm not sure I can deny her it as a birthday present. We'll see anyway.

I suppose I am now going to start my pursuit of the extra yarn for extra yarn for the cardigan and in the meantime work on finishing the two pairs of socks I have on the go and get another couple of repeats on the scarf done.