Felicity round 1: the Universe 1, me 0

But since I am part of the Universe, it wasn't a total loss...

I did it again. I cast on for a new project, meticulously read and re-read the steps of the pattern, realized fairly early on that something was funky...and kept going.

Is it because I am a helpless optimist? Is it because my ADDishness fades back the light on certain types of details? Is it because I'm just an idiot sometimes?

Who knows.

The pattern calls for casting on, joining to knit, a row of purling, and then moving into stockinette stitch. I don't know if it was how I joined my knitting together, or whether I got visually confused with the circular needles, or what, but in order for me to continue into stockinette, I had to keep purling rather than knit.

And I thought that was strange.

Many, many rows later, I thought it was really strange because knitting is so much faster than purling and it didn't make sense that I was purling the hat.

Sigh.

When it came time to increase stitches, 5 1/2 inches from the cast-on edge, I knew I had made a mistake. Back at row #1, probably when I joined. I tried to fudge it, which is what I tend to do. Then, I decided to frog it, which is what I tend to do next.

I took a photo to commemorate. I also wanted to see how the hat fit so far. It fits well, I'm not positive the yarn is the best choice for this hat. The yarn is lovely. A wool and silk blend and the color is brighter and more cranberry than in the picture. I'm going to use it. But, I am also looking forward to knitting this hat again, with a fuzzier yarn. (Up close the knit isn't as 'tight' as I like...the silk helps to create stitch definition which also means the spaces between the stitches are more distinctly visible.)

Pattern: Felicity
Yarn: Cascade Venezia

Leaves of Grass 1.0

I owe Kelly a knit.  I awarded some 1000th post prizes over at my other blog and Kelly was a winner.  She chose "knit" as her loot category.  I asked her for color suggestions and one of the colors she mentioned was yellow.  I had a skein of buttery yellow Cascade 220 in my stash.  (A single skein plucked out of the Modern Yarn sale basket in their old location.)

I pattern crawled on Ravelry, but nothing leapt out at me.  One thing led to another and I pulled out my Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume One.  I found a pattern I liked called Leaves of Grass.  Inpsired, I did some rudimentary math, cast on for a cowl with the Cascade 220, and knit, knit, knit.

You can see from the photo on top that the cowl was way too big.  I did finish it so I could try it on, and it was, indeed, way too big.  Victorian neck ruff big.

Another thing: Cascade 220, in my opinion, is too scratchy for a cowl.  It's a great workhorse yarn, but I prefer something more luxe to cozy my neck up to.

My son helped me frog the cowl and rewind the yarn.  Loved that :-)