Two steps forward, one step back

It seems every time I try to knit something for myself these days, something goes wrong, or I'm met with disappointment. (Thankfully the sample knitting has been successful.) I run out of yarn for the bedjacket, have to substitute another yarn for the edging. One pair of socks, deliberately knit to the wrong gauge, looks awful. Rip. Three shawl projects lay stagnant due to me generally not caring enough to work on them.

And then this happens. Actually this happened weeks ago, but it was too disheartening to deal with.

Diamond Lace Scarf

I get this far on the edging, and there's no way in the world I'll have enough yarn to finish it. So after this photo was taken, it got ripped back far enough to where I can finish it. I'll have leftovers now, but at least the scarf will be finished. Of course with most days in the 60s, I'll have no use for it until September. Wonderful.

I've been trying to participate in a group on Ravelry called "Sockdown" - basically, the idea is, every month people in the group knit a pair of socks by a certain designer or using a certain technique. Finish your socks within the alloted time, and you're entered into a raffle to win yarn or other goodies. Fun, right? Exactly. Except when I pick a pattern that drives me crazy.

These are the Mock Wave Cable socks by Ann Budd, from Interweave's "Favorite Socks" book. A lot of the Ravelry photos looked really cute. This is what mine looked like.

Mock wave cable sock

A whole big lump of nothing. And this is after they'd been ripped out once to fix a gauge problem and a chart full of errors from the original printing! The cast-on was interesting (a variation on my favorite long-tail cast on) and the pattern definitely has potential, but the increases look messy to me and I kept making mistakes. So out they went.

One last shot of them, showing the intended effect...

Mock wave cable sock

This at least looks a little better but I'm not satisfied. The yarn is going to become Diagonal Rib socks, also by Ann Budd, to try and get in on the raffle action!

I'm still chugging along on the lace blouse, but that's another post. Thankfully my seeds are happily sprouting outside, and I have another sample knitting project coming, so maybe there's more success in the future.

Comments

Dove Knits said…
I'm sorry things aren't working! Doesn't it seem like there are just some months when that happens? It certainly comes in bunches for me. Either I knit three spectacular things, or I knit five big blobs in a row.
6:44 AM
Sarah said…
Me too! Lately I feel like the Goldilocks of knitting... TOO small, TOO big.... juuuust right. I'm getting tired of knitting everything three times.
11:18 AM
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