10.21.2009

At what point?

I have come to a stopping point in nearly ALL of my knitting projects.  Each one has it's own little problem that I haven't had the time, ambition or energy to tackle.

Problem One















I started this Cabled Raglan Baby Sweater (free pattern for subscribers to Knitting Daily) with Louisa Harding Kimono Angora yarn.  You'll never guess where I got this yarn.  Tuesday Morning.   Yes, the TJMaxx-ish home goods store.  I found 5 balls of it, each marked 3.99.  For angora yarn.  There were others of the same kind there, but the colorways were particularly awful.  I just hope I have enough of this pink to finish the sweater! 
The problem with this sweater is fairly simple to fix, I think.  Each row starts with knit 5.  well, about 5 rows ago, somehow I purled 5.  so I have three rows that look like stockinette for the first 5 stitches instead of garter stitch.  If this were in the middle of a row, I would be able to easily (as easily as possible with fuzzy angora yarn) ladder down and fix those 5 stitches.  Since the problem is the first 5 stitches of the row, I'm having a hard time laddering down and rearranging the stitches so they look nice.  They got all stretched out.  So, I think my new solution is to rip back to before I screwed up.  But the problem there is that there are all kinds of increases for the sleeves through the middle of every other row.  I am not sure once I rip back that far if I'll have the right number of stitches.  I really don't want to unknit 5 or 6 rows one stitch at a time. 
When I am only about 20 rows into a project, can I/should I rip it completely and start over?! 
Why is there so much pain in knitting!?

Problem Two















I bought this sock yarn with a gift certificate that Ryan gave me for my birthday in 2008.  I held onto it for more than a year for some reason.  I went in May before the wedding to pick something out and decided I'd need a new pair of socks to start and take with me on our Honeymoon to Wilmington, NC.  It turned out I did very little knitting on our honeymoon, imagine that!  So, I've been knitting on this sock very rarely (see this post for part of the reason) and partly because it's not easy 2 by 2 ribbing and actually requires I read a pattern.  
Last week I noticed that I have at least three pairs of socks on the needles and while I have TONS of sock yarn and can't seem to stop acquiring more, I think I need to stick to one pair and finish it.  I also realized that this yarn is not superwash.  it is 100% alpaca.  I do not like to hand wash my socks and this yarn seemed to be making a sock that wouldn't hug my leg and may be a tad droopy, which I really don't like.  But I didn't want to frog the little bit that I had started. 
I left the partial sock on the needles and didn't break the yarn.  I started from the other end of the ball and started a scarf.  If I end up needing the whole ball, including what is started on the sock, I'll frog it then, but for now, I can't commit to the sock or the scarf.

Problem Three

 This is a Malabrigo sock yarn I bought in Chicago last month.  I love this colorway!  it is not as teal in person as it is in this photo.  Definitely more royal blue and charcoal.  The problem with this is that I may have cast on too many stitches.  It is a Christmas gift sock for someone. We do not have the same size feet, so I can't use myself as a guide.  I really don't want to start over, but I really don't want to knit any further on this until I decide if it will fit.  

Problem Four - SOLVED!



I started these Lorna's Laces toe-up socks at least a year ago.  Possibly TWO years ago.  The toe was fine and easy, I knit around and around for the foot until I got to 1-1/2 inches before the heel.  I tried the heel twice, from two different patterns.  Each one had it's own issue that I couldn't deal with (and can't remember because it was probably two years ago, and I won't bad mouth any patterns I used, because I'm not sure it was the pattern's fault).  So, I frogged the heel twice (at least).  A couple weeks ago, I was perusing the knitting section at Borders and saw this book by Wendy D. Johnson (pictured with sock above).  It looked like it had great patterns and really great illustrations and step-by-steps.  So I thought I would give it a try.  It WORKS!!!  I have a perfect toe-up heel with no holes and no funky issues!  I am soooooo excited!  I have wanted to learn toe-up socks for such a long time. 

Since this is the only thing I've figured out among all the problems, this is what I've been working on.  Instead of the Christmas gift socks.  He's pretty used to getting a box with one sock in it for Christmas though, what's one more year.  Does three years of doing the same thing make it an official Tradition?

None of this has stopped me from looking online for yarn, or wanting to start another pair of socks.  And none of it has motivated me to do anything about any of it.