Baa Bump

I joined CrazySheepLady and some of her friends in a knitalong (KAL). I've been wanting to knit the Baa-ble hat since Rhinebeck. This KAL was just the final push I needed. I happily cast on and knit almost the full cuff at trivia night. (We lost spectacularly at trivia.) Tonight I settled in for a nice increase round and needle change...

Then I frogged the whole thing when my count did not match what the pattern said I should have. How could this be? I checked the increase round, did I not increase enough? I counted the increases, yep the right number of increases? (No not really but they were spaced correctly.) Finally I counted my ribbing...ah there is the mistake!

How could I not count the cast on correctly? Did I mention this is my first KAL and I am pretty darn excited about it? Oh you figured that out by yourselves? Could one of you not told me to count it again??

We have a saying in the USA, measure twice, cut once. D said that to a coworker a couple of years back. "That's interesting in Russia the saying is measure seven times, cut once." Why was I not Russian while casting on?

So I started over and believe me I counted more than twice, but did I count seven times...

Finally

Ok I found a workaround for getting a picture here. Did I ever tell you how much I hate it when computer stuff changes and makes everything more difficult? I get it you have to improve things but make sure the stuff that it used to do still works. Yowsa!

I know, I know let's just talk about knitting. See these socks?

They took quite a while to knit. Well that's only true if you call call sitting in a corner being ignored knitting. Ravelry added a new feature that lets you see all your updates to a project as a timeline. These poor souls say in hibernation for 16 months. Yes that is right 16+ months on the needles for one of them. Sigh, don't even think about taking my yarn away as punishment. Nope that is not gonna happen!

Anyways back to the socks. They're Nemesis Socks knit in Socks That Rock Raspberry Moose. That yarn was a Rhinebeck purchase in 2011, it marinated in the stash for three years before being chosen. I thought since it was a semi solid it would not pull too much away from the lovely patterning. The first one knit up in two months. But I started to be very concerned about it. When I tried it on it was  tight. But I being the denying knitter that I am, cast on the second sock and knit a couple of inches on that, before allowing myself to be drawn away but many, many other yarns. There on a shelf sat my lonely first sock and sad cuff of a second sock...

The afore mentioned 16 months pass, I woke myself from my denial induced haze and decided to just get on with it. (Anybody else hear the cast of Monty Python there?) It took me a month to knit the second sock, a month that is it.

Deciding to throw caution into the wind and hope that everything would work out, I washed them. They fit fine now, maybe even a little loose.

Sometimes you just have to knit the darn second sock.

Ramble On

Well that balance thing I'm trying this year is not working as well as I would like. I am back on the exercise horse but my church work is taking a bit of a hit. Ending one year and starting another is one of the last things I had not yet done. There were some bumps and ruts along the way but I feel I am slowly clawing my way back to a schedule.

Gus had a small bump or two also. We've not had to see any vets urgently but I've cleaned up in the middle of the night a few times. Somedays he just looks so old and tired, but any day without a vet visit is good.

I tried to show off some socks that took me a while to knit but it seems I cannot get the photos to work here. Alas I will just have to talk about the book I just finished listening to instead.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman touched my soul. I am trying to convince D to listen as well. I loved it with all my heart. I knew I would either love Ove or hate Ove. He was more than a jerk at times but oh man did I want to spend more time with him and Parvanah. I especially loved Parvanah's will of steel. I laughed in so many spots and cried more times than I am willing to admit. I saw both myself and D in Ove's story quite a bit. I know I will be listening to Backman's other book that has been translated, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. I'm so glad I took Crazy Sheep Lady's recommendation.

Knitting has been going on, I've even finished a pair of socks. But my works in progress had dwindled to two, so I cast on another pair of socks yesterday. I knit about a quarter of a second sock at a church meeting last week. I had over packed for the meeting too, I brought three projects for a two hour meeting. Next time you all need to remind me something simple and already on the needles. I need to think of it as TV knitting but just a tinge less focused.

I have a pair of socks on the needles that have a deadline so I am fighting the urge to cast on the Baa-ble Hat, once these socks are done I will be knitting at least two of those hats, one for practice and the other for show. Oh yes there will be sheepy hats!

I had better make another pot of tea and put my nose back on the grindstone. Happy Knitting to All!