FAIL TIME

So, I am going to Disneyland over Thanksgiving, and since it might be coldish in Anaheim at the end of November (a knitter can dream, right??), I thought I would knit myself a hat.

I decided upon Ganomy from EZ’s Knitter’s Almanac. A classic, right? And I decided to use my new Manos de Uruguay, which I just got because it is beautiful. These things added up to this:

GANOMY FAIL

It looks innocent enough.

But ALAS, the yarn is too stiff on a size 7 needle and didn’t fit my big, Germanic noggin, even though I upsized the pattern like whoa. AND I started to run out of yarn.

…O failure thou art mine…

I went as far as I could, then decreased at the top to finish it off. This was a mistake. I then vigorously blocked the everlasting shit out of that thing.

GANOMY FAIL

Note the pointyness upon the crown. WTF?. AND, while vigorous blocking helped a little, the fact of the matter is, it is just too small for my head, even though it doesn’t look it. It’s too short, for one thing. And the rapid decreases at the top don’t help.

I am peeved.

GANOMY FAIL

PEEVED.

So peeved, in fact, that I may actually FROG IT.

Anyway, so now I’m working on another one in Malabrigo on a bigger needle and it looks much more promising:

Ganomy Take 2

The yarn colors aren’t quite as awesome as the Manos but dudes, it is Malabrigo and therefore can do no wrong.

SO: moral of the story is, you can half-ass most anything, but you need to be more careful around miters. And use a bigger needle, damn it.

ARGH.

Another Pair of Socks

I love these socks:

Lizzy Socks - Finished Lizzy Socks - Finished!

Start date: October 3
Finish date: October 17
Pattern used: Lizzy
Yarn: Socks That Rock Lightweight
Needles: Knitpicks US 2 DPNs
Notes: I did change the motif a little – I really don’t like to knit a p3tog or whatever that was up on line 13 or so of the chart, so I just fudged it around so I didn’t have to, and I don’t think you can really tell the difference. I also added a motif on the toe and extended the ribbing to the toe until grafting. I really like them! They fit nicely too, and I think I’ll be making another pair, though with the original toe.

Tomorrow I am getting together with Malvina to give her the orange socks! Today I went to the Yarn Boutique and picked up a couple of the little packets of Soak for her to wash them in. Technically you can machine wash Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, but I am finding that the less you machine wash handmade socks the better. (I know, right? I drank the koolaid, I guess.)

I looked on my Flickr account and I discovered that to date I have completed 12 projects this year! That is doing pretty good. Last year I finished 15 items, and two of them were sweaters. This year has mostly been socks, but I did make the Swallowtail Shawl, which was pretty fun. With the fall weather coming to town (not so’s you’d notice today, it’s a balmy 77°) I am feeling some hat mojo return, so I will be casting on for a hat in some delish grapey-purple Manos de Uruguay today I think. I also have a ton of Malabrigo I’ve been collecting, so I think I might try Koolhaas or similar in the sealing wax colorway.

I am still pondering the next socks I will cast on, which will be for Abby in Collinette Jitterbug, in the “Jewel” colorway.

Put A Spork In It

…’Cause it’s done, yo.

Malvina's Embossed Leaves

Yes, I have finished another pair of socks! In about a month, which isn’t too bad lately. These are Malvina’s birthday socks.

Pattern: Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt from Interweave’s Favorite Socks
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill in an uber TANGERINE
Mods: various. I hate how the star toe feels (though aesthetically it works better on this pattern) and I love grafting, so I put in a regular French toe, and a regular stockinette heel, and a regular long-tail cast-on.
Oh, and I started the second sock a half-repeat down so the pattern would mirror-image itself. *is a matchy-matchy nerd*

I would up liking the yarn after all.  It works up nicely and let’s face it, the color is great. I am not sure how it is going to wear, and I am not sure how Malvina is going to feel when I tell her to handwash these socks, but whatevs. I still need to give ’em a soak, but I broke the sink plug the other day so it will have to wait. Uncle Evan is coming over tomorrow morning to fix it.

P.S. Malvina your socks are done.