I Waited Too Long ...

The one thing I hate about UFO's? Picking a project back up after its sat for a long time and either not remembering what the hell you were doing with it or how you were doing it. We all take liberties here and there with our knitting, at least I do. And the problems is...I cant remember what the hell kinda liberty I've taken with something that I let sit for too long!! Dammit.

Aunt Betty's Shawl....ah, Auntie's shawl. It was supposed to be a Christmas present last year. It let it sit too long in between working on it. Last night I picked it up and I thought I knew what row I was on...row counter said row 12. A wrong side row. Check. I looked at the previous row and from all the stitches I looked at it sure looked an awful lot like row 11 but there's a chance it was masquerading. I headed off on row 12 like I knew what I was doing, knowing full well the stitches didn't line up. What did I do? I KEPT FREAKING KNITTING. Maybe it was the high leftover from the wonderful dinner the family just had at Olive Garden, which I chose to polish off with a slice of pumpkin cheesecake (highly recommended), but I'm not sure. I just kept knitting until I got to the center.
It was all wrong. I knew it was all wrong and not even the stitch count was right anymore. So now I'm pretty sure I need to back out about a row and a half of Silky Wool...which in a way is like trying to take out boucle yarn. I just put it down for the evening and will look at it later today. Maybe. I really do need to get it figured out there because missing 2 Christmases is just plain embarrassing. Its supposed to look like this...

Photo courtesy of Ravelry from Alexandra Wiedmayer

It's a lovely pattern, really it is. Its called the Morlynn Shawl and it can be found here on Ravelry. And I really think Auntie is gonna love it...if I can actually finish the damn thing. So I need to back out a few rows on this and see if I can get it going in the right direction. The same mysteries that are responsible for disguising our work after sitting for a long period of time are the same ones that usually allow things to appear differently the next day after being frustrated with something the day before. I'm gonna hold out for good news when I take it back up, I'll let you know.

Sticking to my 'I'm really trying to be productive and finish last years Christmas gifts' mode, I turned to the pair of socks I was knitting for my Dad. Last year he got one sock in a package....so at least he knew he was getting a pair of Buckeye Socks. Side note: Our whole family bleeds Scarlet and Grey and are avid Buckeye football and basketball fans. Everything my father owns from his clothing to his grey car are Buckeye colors. The family belongs to the Albuquerque Ohio State Buckeye Alumni Association. We all went to OSU although some of us, ahem, did not graduate. I blame Alpha Psi Lambda. But I digress. Dad only received one Buckeye sock so I finally cast on the second one...

My Mothers sock recipe knit with Fiesta Yarns Baby Boom Team Colors, or something like that. Knit on US size 2 circulars

I have no earthly idea what took me this long to do it. I think was all the designing I did this year. You can see my designs here. I had a tremendous amount of fun finding my way into the design world this year more so than in the past. Now that I have my foot in the door so to speak, I will continue with it. I'm sure that's what has stood in the way of me finishing things and why I have so many UFO's. Along with doing my own work, there are so many other pretty patterns out there I like to work. Just like with the shawl there are things about this that I don't remember. I make plain Jane socks. No patterns. Socks are utilitarian and go in shoes and generally under pants and no one sees them anyway. My socks have always been my Mothers pattern. But I'm going to be doing a lot of stitch counting because I don't remember how many rows of ribbing, or for the heel flap, or how many for the long part of the foot before the decreases. This second sock is going to be a game of winging it. My Dad has long narrow feet and I achieved that with the first one. Like I said, lots of stitch counting!

Don't know what you guys are all up to with your knitting but I wonder if I'll ever learn not to let things sit for too long!