the little skeink that couldn't

There's been nothing but silence from the Frog House, and for good reason. The Widdershins have broken me. After weeks of knitting, frogging, knitting, tinking, knitting, tinking, and frogging some more, I finally reached the end of my tether. I'm only barely able to talk about it. The wounds are still too fresh. I feel like a jilted lover, and I'd rather be crying into a cup of hot cocoa while watching Sense and Sensibility than reliving my pain.

In spite of all my care and caution (read: lifelines, measuring, and counting stitches like a Gringotts goblin would galleons), I still got bitten. I turned the heel only to find that these socks wouldn't fit my mother unless A) she's been secretly binding her feet for the last ten years, or B) I found a way to travel back in time and give them to her as a gift for her 5th birthday rather than her 50th. How the hell did this happen? I'm flummoxed. I followed that f'in pattern to the letter, and yet somehow things went terribly awry.

And now... I can't even bear to look at them. It took every ounce of my willpower not to set fire to the unfinished socks, needles and working yarn still attached. I might have even tossed in the pattern and Ziploc baggie for good measure.

Ever since the incident, I'm finding it difficult to be enthusiastic about knitting. I've worked a bit on my long-lost Mr. and Mrs. Dashing, but to no avail. My knitting heart is tender, and wonders if it can ever love again.

NaKniSweMo update from Lil Purl

I'm very close with my Beau. I have finished the main parts of the front and back and have blocked it to start my seaming. After seaming, I'm working on the neckband, buttonband and attaching the sleeves:



Here are my sleeves. I'm working on them simultaneously to minimize the variation in my gauge.










This knit has gone faster than I thought since I only started a couple of weeks ago. The only problems I've had is some of the laddering that happens when I've switched from knit and purl Some of the Rowan pattern is also confusing. It's fairly simple but some of the written descriptions were not as clear as I would have liked. "Work the same as back until 36 rows less" is a strange instruction. 36 rows less? Wouldn't it be more intuitive to give dimension?

On another note, I finished staining and varnishing my stash's beautiful new home some time back. Here she is:
Isn't she a beauty?

NaKniSweMo

Sure, we're a day or two late in starting, but that's okay -- we have 28 more! Who's in with me? Come on! Knit a sweater in the month of November, with Knitgrrl and the group over on Ravelry.

I'm going to make this one:
It's the Star-Crossed Cardigan, over on Anthropologie. I'm going to make it out of some chocolate brown Cascade Eco Wool from the stash, on size 9 needles, with long sleeves. I haven't cast on, but I've swatched and sketched and I think I've figured out how it works. Sure, I've made sweaters before, and in less than a month, too, but the challenge here for me is to do this sweater and the 3 pairs of socks and the shawl I have lined up for holiday gifts. Woo hoo!

Who's with me? Come on girls! Let's knit sweaters!