Where are they now? - 2KCBWDAY4

Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person. An item that lives with you or something which you sent off to charity.

Last year I wrote about an item that has held up really well to lots of wear. Today, I'll talk about something that hasn't held up quite so well.

I finished my unicorn barf Skew socks in June 2010, in the heat of summer. As such, they didn't get much wear right away.


Skew, as of summer 2010

I've worn them a bit this past winter, but they look much worse than they should.


Skew, now

The yarn has fuzzed and faded considerably. The fading is probably my own fault. I dyed the yarn with easter egg dyes - it was my first time handpainting, and maybe the dye didn't set properly in the microwave. The yarn I used was Elann Sock It To Me 4 Ply.



I also dyed some of this yarn neon green, but I'm a bit afraid to use it for socks if it's going to wear this badly. Knitting is a constant learning experience, and I know what not to do for next time.

For more Knitting and Crochet Blog Week posts, search 2KCBWDAY4.

Anatomy of Fail

I've been sort of quiet about my noro knee socks these last few months, but it's time to come clean.


(some day I'll remember to clean the porch before I do a photoshoot)

I have very little yarn left, but only 1.5 socks. How did I let it come to this? Bad planning and a series of oversights. I should have known better. Don't be like me: here's what I did wrong.

1. Trusted others without thinking
Ravelry is brilliant, and I get a lot of useful information from other knitters' project notes. This time, however, I neglected to consider the differences between my circumstances and those of other ravelers who made the same socks using only one skein of Noro Kureyon Sock. Namely, I have average-to-large sized feet, and large calves. As such, I require bigger socks, and making bigger socks requires more yarn. There is a detailed yardage calculation section in the pattern, but because I assumed I would have enough yarn, I didn't even bother doing the calculations until it was too late. Dumb. Won't happen again.

2. Did not pay much attention to gauge.
When I started the first sock, I did take note of the fact that my gauge was much tighter than called for in the pattern, but since things were othewise working out, I didn't do anything with this knowledge. Tighter gauge = more stitches required. More stitches = more yarn.



3. Unfailing optimism / denial
So deep was my trust in those ravelers who have come before that I didn't even start thinking something was amiss until I was well into the second sock. At first, I thought I would only come up a little short, and so I could unravel the top of the first sock to make the two even. Alas, my optimism turned to despair when I finally realized I wouldn't have nearly enough.

4. Unwillingness to frog
I am not a committed frogger. Sometimes frogging is necessary, and I fear that is the case with this project, but I usually try to find a way around it. When I make mistakes in my knitting, I usually just live with the mistakes. I am not a perfectionist. In this case, I kept going, even when I started to have my doubts...

I guess I have a few options.
-rip back the first sock so it matches the second.
-buy more yarn and finish the socks
-frog the whole thing and make something else
-frog the whole thing, buy something to stripe the noro with, make striped knee socks

To be honest, I'm sick of looking at this project, so it's hibernating. I'm seriously considering buying more yarn since I like how the first sock turned out, but I don't know what I'd do with the leftovers. What do you think?

Fail.

Ishbel is finished and blocking, but that's about the only thing that has gone right today. And even then, I had to make a trek out of my way to find some sewing pins because they weren't where I thought I'd find them. Maybe I'm being overdramatic, but things aren't lining up the way I'd like them to. My timing is off, my motivation is low, I'm accident prone, and all I want to do is curl up with a cup of tea and something chocolate. (And maybe some knitting.)

Tomorrow:
-a less whiny post.
-pictures of Ishbel (hint: she's unexpectedly huge!)

Word Thursday and rookie mistakes

adhocracy

A flexible and informal style of organization and management,
characterized by a lack of bureaucracy. Also (depreciative): bureaucracy
characterized by inconsistency and lack of planning.

~OED

I like this one and kind of wonder why I don't hear it more often, especially in the depreciative sense, since bureaucracies lend themselves to inconsistency. Really, any organizational system lends itself to criticism, often in snide tones.

In other news... a revelation: Vivian has a i-cord edging. I never made the connection despite considering the Sl 3 at the beginning of each row and wondering why I had to do it. I wondered, but I didn't question and I just went with it, leaving it kind of loose and weird looking expecting it would all work out in the end. Then I found a thread on the Vivian knit-a-long forum about it. I-cord! DUH!

I'm familiar with i-cord only in theory, having never knit a project that called for it. Still, I feel a bit dumb, and would have appreciated a note in the pattern telling me this is what I was supposed to be doing! I'll tighten it up from now on so it won't be so loose and ladder-y, and I'll fix up the beginning few inches in some way. They don't look too bad, really.

Always learning...

Epic shower rescue adventure

I should probably stop referring to everything I do as either "epic" or an "adventure" or both, but on the other hand, it's my life and I am rather excitable and easily amused. So, here's my latest epic adventure. In the shower, of all places. (Excessive Long-windedness follows)

A disadvantage to having long hair and lots of it is that it gets everywhere. I probably have no right to complain about the cat rubbing his face on my sweaters and shedding all over them, because I'm sure he's just returning the favour: he has to deal with my long hairs all over the place. Sometimes he rubs his face against my shoulder and comes up with a face full of hair that he has to bat away. But I digress. The other main disadvantage of long hair is the rate at which drains get clogged. I live with 2.5 other girls now, but I think my hair is the longest, so I'm totally willing to pitch in and clear the drain when necessary because I figure it's mostly my fault. I did so today, even though I hadn't intended to do it so soon since I've only lived here for a week and a half.

What happened was, as soon as I got in the shower today one of my beloved golden hoop earrings fell off. I say beloved because, well, I love them and I wear them almost all the time - now I have some new beloved silvery ones that I wear most of the rest of the time. Anyway, I sleep in these earrings because they are seamless hoops that don't have pokey studs or anything, and I certainly don't hesitate to shower in them. But one fell out today, and slithered down the drain, and I cursed and nearly cried, and jumped out of the shower into the frozen air and set about trying to right this problem. Given that the drain was clogged with a mess of gross old hair, I knew all was not lost.

After first setting on the drain with my hands (as gross as it was) I found I needed new weaponry. So, I grabbed a handy tool box and attacked the gross, sludgy mass of drain hair with some thick, grippy pliers. The earring was nowhere to be found in the first layer of grime, which made me nearly despair. At least it would drain faster.

Then I got a flashlight and peered down into the drain, and there it was! A glint of shiny yellow metal in a bed of grayish congealed crap about 3 or 4 cm down from the opening. Gross, but so encouraging. It's this sort of thing that renews my interest in archaeology. The pliers were unfortunately too large to fit far between the crosspieces of the drain, and I know I brought my needlenose pliers with me but I couldn't find them at the time, and anyway they would have been too short.

Out came the Allen key (sp?), with its handy crook that I thought would be ideal for fitting into the hoop and lifting it out of the muck. Lift I did! Alas, the Allen key wouldn't lift easily out of the small hole at the right angle: every time I tried, I had to maneuver the key such that the earring slipped off and back into the sludge. Sigh. I brought out some floss to try to thread through the earring so that when it dropped off the Allen key it would still be attached and within reach. Floss is floppy and doesn't hold its own when poking in a dark drain. I tried using a knitting needle, 5 mm dpn, in addition to the Allen key to convince the earring to emerge. Stubborn thing would not.

Every so often it would disappear in the murk and I thought I'd lost it forever. I'd like to think I'm not so hung up on material things, but in reality there are some material things that I really would prefer not to lose. But more poking and prodding would cause it to emerge once more.

I tried many things, running back and forth between the bathroom and my room across the hall to gather tools, half-showered and in my bathrobe, perplexing a housemate with my bizarre inquiries about long needle-nose pliers and the like, and apologizing for totally monopolizing the bathroom.

But I rescued the earring, finally! With a floss-threader, of all things. You know, those plastic large-eyed needles flung at teenagers by dentists and orthodontists to encourage them to floss despite the impediment of their braces? Yeah. I stuck it down loop-first into the drain, hooked it onto the earring, and lifted. Simple! Why didn't I think of it first?

I only have floss threaders because back in the day I was one of those kids with braces who ignored most dental suggestions that I floss, but accepted the small gift of a package of floss threaders every check-up. I started flossing religiously after getting my braces off, perhaps to make up for lost time, and I'm a committed flosser now, but not in those days. I still have one wire behind my bottom front teeth that I need to use these threaders for, so it's a good thing I have a lifetime's supply.

Needless to say, I'm pretty pleased with myself and the outcome of this harrowing rescue. Now to soak the earring in something nasty and disinfectant for a while.

A lesson in superwash

In December/January I knit some socks for my mom - my first pair of socks, Monkeys out of some vintage fingering-weight wool I got for cheap at Lewiscraft when they were closing out. Not superwash. I knew this was a bad idea for socks, but as time wore on and the socks held up with gentle washings I thought it wasn't such a big deal after all.

So I made myself some ankle socks out of the same yarn in a different colour. Aaaaand the heels felted after I wore them twice. I guess I'm rougher on my socks than my mom is.

I have more of this same kind of yarn, but all sock plans are on hold until I acquire some suitable sock yarn. Hahaha. More to the point, I need to figure out what to make with a few scattered skeins of non-superwash fingering weight yarn, since I'm currently anti-stash.

Candidates include "Spin me right round baby" slouchy hat,though I'm still not sure if I can wear slouchy berets.

In the meantime, more iris: