WTF???

With the lovely yarn my sister made for me, I have managed to make the dorkiest looking hat ever in the history of hats (which I believe is long and illustrious). I called this project "chocolate kisses" on my Ravelry page, which was obviously a huge mistake. I thought it would be cute (a little too cute in fact, but hey, sometimes you need that) since the colorway was called chocolate, and there was so much love in that there yarn.

Disturbingly, my hat is shaped very much like a Hershey's Kiss, which is not what I was going for.

It is also much too large.

Ripping out and heading back to square one.

Note to self: do not try and get fancy without a better plan.

Change Your Gauge, Change Your LIfe

My sister gave me this lovely (that's a huge understatement) yarn that she spun herself for Christmas last year, and ever since I have been struggling to find the right thing to knit with it. This is serious, it must be perfect.


This means:

It must showcase the beauty of the yarn. It must be something I will wear a lot. It must be suited to a bulky gauge. It must require no more than 582 yards and preferably no less than 570 (I want to use every last bit, naturally).

I have had a tough time with this list of requirements.

Finally, after much swatching, I opted for a hat & scarf. Then I can knit the scarf until the yarn is all gone. Great.

Why is it so hideous, though? I ripped it out countless times over the first week. A hat should be done in a week, not a hopeless ball of yarn giving me dirty looks from my purse and making me feel bad for being so mean to it.

I swatched a lot over the past several months. I even swatched with a couple different balls of yarn, since there was a little variation in the weight.

What I didn't do, was swatch in the round.

I have been knitting for almost 35 years. I am not yet 40. This means I have been knitting longer than I have been reading. I should really know better.

Dropped two needle sizes for the ribbing and the clouds parted. Droppped one for the body of the hat and I swear I could hear the little birdies singing and I felt like I had lost weight. No lie. I have been knitting like a crazy woman, making it up as I go along. Thank goodness things are back to normal.

Just to make sure everything was ok again, I bought some more sock yarn.


Black Sheep Dyeworks Sock Weight in Fig Multi

So much to knit, so little time (it is a disease, people, a disease I tell you)

The holidays are fast approaching (people who don't make gifts don't know, you have to start early) but that isn't even the half of it. Seeing as how I already have more than enough sock yarn to keep me busy for a year, I should be happy and content to knit sock after sock after sock. maybe even the same sock twice to make a nice matching pair, but let's not go too far.

But I want to knit lace. Lots and lots of lace. More lace than I could knit in a year. And naturally, this will involve acquiring additional yarn. Clearly, it is time to move to a bigger place.

I think this is due to the self-imposed "knit what you already have" strategy I have been employing. The binge in the yarn diet. But, as always, I am way more child than adult and I have come up with these reasons (like why I can't go to bed yet or why I need ice cream) why I need more yarn.

Looks like my hopes that I will one day grow up are still in vain.

But I am still working on my socks (and really, what's not to love about socks?) and that is something at least.

Right?

Baby's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, made for my Mom