Sometimes, Knitting is Hard

Not just from a technical standpoint, either. Sometimes, it is a grind. It was a mixed bag for knitting this weekend. Let's start with the good stuff:

1. The shawl had a night out on Saturday. She went to a play at Stanford, and took DH and I along for the ride. Alas, the theater was too warm for it, but she draped over me elegantly anyway. It was freezing outside, though, so she obligingly made a big, cozy scarf around my neck and over my coat for the walk to the car.

2. I finished the Very Harlot Poncho. I am pretty happy with it. I didn't really have a "wow" moment, like I did with the shawl, but I do like it, and I think it will be nice to have for those cold days in the office.

3. I made a beautiful swatch for Eunny's Print O' the Wave Stole. It is the most wonderful swatch I have ever seen.

4. I put in a few rows on the Floral Gathering Sac, EPS Sweater, and the Noni Garden Party bag.


The bad:

I frogged the scarf I am making for my mom. I lost my place on a row (which annoyed me, because it is a pretty simple pattern), and in trying to count to where I was supposed to be, I discovered an error. I also wasn't happy with how the edges were looking. The pattern says to slip the first stitch on every RS row. This side looked great, but the other side looked uneven and I couldn't stand it.

I overreacted - all I needed to do was frog back a row or two, but instead, I frogged back to the garter edging. It is just as well, I suppose. Now, I can slip the first stitch on the WS rows and both sides will look nice.

And the ugly:

I decided to wind up some KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud for the Print O' the Wave. It didn't go well. It went all tangly toward the end and I couldn't fix it. Most of the ball wound up just fine. But I lost maybe 3 yards in the tangle.

I wish I could say it as pithily as DH did - but after I summed up the weekend as "a complete waste of perfectly good knitting time," he said something like, our failures make our triumphs even sweeter. And he is right - it was just what I needed to hear, and I have a bunch of things on the needles that I really enjoy. It will be a wonderful moment to see each of them finished, too.