Some days are just not your day.
Or maybe some projects are just Projects of Pain.
I'm making Diane a hat. I have a fabulous artistic vision for this hat. (Which will be a lacy beret knit out of crochet cotton. Summery & stylish!) However, I cannot make it more than 3 rows past the g-d brim.
Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong with this hat. We'll leave the past week aside, during which I have already cast on and ripped out countless stitches/rows -- wrong needle size, wrong ribbing choice, wrong cast-on choice, needles too big, needles too small, missing one needle, etc.
Today I woke up before noon and read a happy message from Diane saying "Wouldn't it be great if I could wear my hat in Australia?!" And I thought, well, if I work harder on it maybe I can get it done in time.
So I sit down with the correct needles and the instructions for a new stretchy cast-on, and knit. And knit. And it doesn't look right! It looks... exactly like the correct thing TURNED INSIDE OUT. I reread and I question my sanity and I rip out hundreds of stitches. I do more googling, and watch more video. Aha, let me try THIS instead - yes it works! Thank you Ysolda on youtube.
Cast on more hundreds of stitches and painstakingly make it past the cast-on. Count the stitches. Count them again. Cast on a few more. Count them again. Determine that I have the right number of stitches. Knit the set-up rows flat. Go to join in the round. Check to see that knitting is not twisted. Verify it is not twisted and begin to join, except -- wtf, why do I have the wrong stitches next to each other?! Count stitches again. Rearrange stitches on needle. Decide I can manage with the wrong # of stitches (I'll just decrease), and go to join in round. Check again to see that knitting is not twisted. Slip stitch at the end of the row to make the join. Stitch falls off needle and unravels to the bottom. Big loop of yarn at the end of a row. What did I just DO. Can I reconstruct this, or am I stranded? (Har har.)
Mess around with a crochet hook and eventually come up with a reconstruction that is... close enough. Join the row. Knit a few rounds. Midrow, stitch falls off needle and knitting does this weird... twisty thing as it unravels. Um, what just happened? Try to pick stitch up again. Doesn't look the same as the other stitches around it. Clearly something happened when it did the twisty thing. Try to twist knitting and pick stitch up. Still doesn't look right. Tink back a few stitches and try to figure out how this funky cast on is constructed at the bottom. In process of prodding stitches, another one falls out. Clearly this is doomed. I pull needles out of knitting and wind the whole ball of yarn again.
It is now 7.5 hrs after I first started doing this just before noon, and I have -- a ball of yarn and needles with no knitting on them, and absolutely nothing to show for today.
I'm going to take a shower and watch TV. FTS.
I'm making Diane a hat. I have a fabulous artistic vision for this hat. (Which will be a lacy beret knit out of crochet cotton. Summery & stylish!) However, I cannot make it more than 3 rows past the g-d brim.
Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong with this hat. We'll leave the past week aside, during which I have already cast on and ripped out countless stitches/rows -- wrong needle size, wrong ribbing choice, wrong cast-on choice, needles too big, needles too small, missing one needle, etc.
Today I woke up before noon and read a happy message from Diane saying "Wouldn't it be great if I could wear my hat in Australia?!" And I thought, well, if I work harder on it maybe I can get it done in time.
So I sit down with the correct needles and the instructions for a new stretchy cast-on, and knit. And knit. And it doesn't look right! It looks... exactly like the correct thing TURNED INSIDE OUT. I reread and I question my sanity and I rip out hundreds of stitches. I do more googling, and watch more video. Aha, let me try THIS instead - yes it works! Thank you Ysolda on youtube.
Cast on more hundreds of stitches and painstakingly make it past the cast-on. Count the stitches. Count them again. Cast on a few more. Count them again. Determine that I have the right number of stitches. Knit the set-up rows flat. Go to join in the round. Check to see that knitting is not twisted. Verify it is not twisted and begin to join, except -- wtf, why do I have the wrong stitches next to each other?! Count stitches again. Rearrange stitches on needle. Decide I can manage with the wrong # of stitches (I'll just decrease), and go to join in round. Check again to see that knitting is not twisted. Slip stitch at the end of the row to make the join. Stitch falls off needle and unravels to the bottom. Big loop of yarn at the end of a row. What did I just DO. Can I reconstruct this, or am I stranded? (Har har.)
Mess around with a crochet hook and eventually come up with a reconstruction that is... close enough. Join the row. Knit a few rounds. Midrow, stitch falls off needle and knitting does this weird... twisty thing as it unravels. Um, what just happened? Try to pick stitch up again. Doesn't look the same as the other stitches around it. Clearly something happened when it did the twisty thing. Try to twist knitting and pick stitch up. Still doesn't look right. Tink back a few stitches and try to figure out how this funky cast on is constructed at the bottom. In process of prodding stitches, another one falls out. Clearly this is doomed. I pull needles out of knitting and wind the whole ball of yarn again.
It is now 7.5 hrs after I first started doing this just before noon, and I have -- a ball of yarn and needles with no knitting on them, and absolutely nothing to show for today.
I'm going to take a shower and watch TV. FTS.