So, I was drooling over the new Knitty Spring and loving the little Shetland Shorty. I coveted for a moment, picked yarn (Harlotty in lightweight from BMFA), swatched (YES, shut up)and settled in. I have a technique for figuring out how long to make the tail for long tail cast on. I get to where I have the right number of stitches in my swatch ( frog until I got the right number) and then use that length of yarn as a guide for how much yarn to use for the long tail cast on. I have a largish amount of yarn left over but on the long side, not the disastrous not-enough-yarn-to-finish-the-last-three-stitches side. Anyway, that was the beginning of my troubles because I cast on with wrong size needles and failed to note that gauge was in garter stitch(frog/2=shorty/0). I cast on, I knit 9 rows in garter stitch, I short rowed impeccably, I got ready to do some lace...aaaaand miss read the instructions as k2, yo2, k2-frog/3. Then, I carefully re-read the instructions; k2tog, yo2, k2tog. Right, got it. So I plow ahead, and I'm knitting, and knitting and knitting and I'm counting my stitches and I'm WAAAAAAY over. Hmm, says I...well, humans to get wider as they go up, I'm sure it's all part of the pattern...and I knit....and knit... and I'm finding that I'm cramming a TON of stitches on the needle. I'm like, "there is NO WAY this is working out." I count again and get to 144 (the number I should have had) maybe a tenth of the way through the total stitches I have...I look at the instructions AGAIN. Y'all I've been knitting for 30 dam years and expect that I would know better. Anyway, the rate at which the clarity hit me should have caused a sonic boom. It's k2tog, yo2, k2tog REPEAT. So, in line it looks like k2tog, yo2, k2tog, k2tog, yo2, k2tog, yeah, so I increase something like 50 stitches PER ROW.
Then, (I know, I'm a glutton for punishment) I frogged (frog/4=shorty/0) picked up those same stitches from the last garter stitch row for the 5th time got to the end of the second row and my count was off. I. just. freaked. Like, I actually made my husband sit and listen to my tirade. The Shorty is hiding from me right now, I don't know if I could find it if I wanted to...I think I may have said some things that were a bit out of line, but can you blame me?
Then, (I know, I'm a glutton for punishment) I frogged (frog/4=shorty/0) picked up those same stitches from the last garter stitch row for the 5th time got to the end of the second row and my count was off. I. just. freaked. Like, I actually made my husband sit and listen to my tirade. The Shorty is hiding from me right now, I don't know if I could find it if I wanted to...I think I may have said some things that were a bit out of line, but can you blame me?
Anyway...
Now that it's the 21st of June, I'm working on my Summer of Socks socks. This is my first time doing two socks on two circs. I kept messing up on the cast-on, whatever, I'm the frickin Frog Queen now...still, they look pretty and i love watching toes grow...*sigh*
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2 comments:
Boy do I empathise on your Shorty disaster. I have been trying to work Laminaria for MONTHS now and every single b-s-t-d row is off on stitch count. I frog back carefully, start again, counting all the way, and get it right. Then I start the NEXT row and bingo, wrong again. If it weren't the softest Cashlana from Fleece Artist on my favourite rosewood circulars, it would have been in the incinerator long ago. And yes, I shrieked at my poor DH too...
OMG!!! Thank you so much for posting your trauma. This is exactly what was happening to me last night and I couldn't figure out where the extra stitches were coming from! Now I can go home, frog and start again!
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