Scarlett - The Evil Shawl From Hell

Just over a month ago I decided I was going to knit a shawl for my swap partner in the Night at the Movies swap through Swappers Anonymous. It sounded like a great idea going in. I needed something to represent Gone With the Wind - one of my partner's favorite movies. What better than a red ruffly shawl inspired by one of my favorite dresses worn by Scarlett O'Hara? The pattern was Multnomah and the yarn was Cascade Heritage Paints in the 9926 colorway. Beautiful and soft and squishy - I was in love. If only I knew about this colorway's evil past... but more on that later.

This is certainly the largest knitted project I've ever tackled and I've only completed something crocheted in this size once. I really didn't think about how long this was going to take, but I was excited to get started. The first rows just flew by! I started knitting it on July 13th, and by the following week I was this far (including lack of knitting time on vacation):

When I started, I thought all that garter stitch was soothing. It's much better than miles of single crochet, but after a while it got to be quite tedious. Right around the time I was getting really bored with it, I got to change to the rippled edge. It was a great change in pace and I got to learn a new knitting technique. Go me! Bella liked it too :-)

Then disaster struck. In one evening I had to rip out the same row 3 times because I was totally distracted by an episode of Burn Notice then I ran out of yarn on the last row. I knew my shawl would hold up the shipping date of my swap box (it was due to ship July 31st and by now it was Aug 10th) so I had stayed up late to finish it so I could block it then ship it out that Friday. Can we say complete meltdown? Word of advice, staying up late to knit after a frustrating day is a BAD IDEA. By this point I was freaking out, posted a panicked plea for help in a couple of my groups on ravelry then attempted to sleep. I was so stressed about the shawl that I only got about 2 hours. Oy. I spent the next day in a horrible mood and spent all of lunch ripping out the last 4 rows. At this point I should have listened to the majority of advice and just cast off then, but I was determined to get the last repeats in. I joined some blue yarn in hopes of bringing out the blue splotches, but it clashed horribly and made it look cheap. Did I follow my instincts and rip it out right away? No - I kept knitting. On the last row I was still in a horrible mood, the blue made the shawl look worse, and I ripped those rows out again. Then I rejoined the red and cast off like I should have before. That evening I went to knitting group where I finished knitting it, and one of the women told me about how this colorway is cursed. It's beautiful yarn, but this is the 3rd project she's known of someone who has had problems using this colorway. One project involved a ton of mistakes and the other became a tedious never-ending scarf. Fair warning to anyone out there wanting to use this colorway.

Now time to block the shawl! This was the first time I've ever blocked knitting so it was a learning experience as well. Bella was "helpful" in keeping the shawl flat too. Since my lace blocking wires hadn't arrived yet (darn that ground shipping) I used dental floss to keep the lines straight. Not the best plan ever, but it mostly worked out ok.

I completely finished it on Saturday, brought it to work Monday to show it off, then shipped it out today. So much work for a complete stranger, but I'm sure she'll like it. I've never been happier to give away one of my creations though. I never want to see the damn thing again.

So what did I learn from this adventure? Gauge swatches are crucial! I don't know if I was knitting too loosely so I ran out of yarn, or if there just wasn't enough there. I also learned that if I'm going to do something insane like knit a shawl for a swap, I need to give myself LOTS of time. Also, I should just stay away from all things Gone With the Wind - I hate the movie with a firey passion, so why would I think knitting something inspired by it would be a good thing?!?!

Time to get back to some crocheting...

Knitting is fun?

Never thought I'd hear that phrase come out of my mouth, but it's the truth. I just had fun while knitting. I just finished my Kool-Aid Twisty Twigs earflap hat and I had so much fun knitting it. I'm pretty sure this is my first knitted project EVER where swearing wasn't involved. In fact, I didn't complain about this project once. I even finished in less than a week!

Last Thursday I was having a bad day. Life got in the way and my crafting mojo was pretty much non-existant. I dyed some yarn which was pretty awesome, but I just wasn't feeling anything else. My brain wasn't exactly functioning. I have a montain of projects that need to be worked on, but I just couldn't get in the groove. I was in a bad mood and I wanted something that would cheer me up. Deciding it was time to say "screw it" to the have-tos, I grabbed my first skein of Kool-Aid yarn and got to work on the hat. It was a simple enough pattern, but also added some challenge and I could think about the hat and not life - something that I really needed. I was only going to give myself that evening to work on the hat then I'd go back to my regularly scheduled crafts.

It was so much fun showing off the way the yarn knitted up while I was at work on Friday, that I decided to keep knitting on it at lunch time. I just didn't want to put it down because with each stitch I got to see the way the colors played out. This hat was just so much fun to work on that I decided the rest could wait. I'm really glad I continued with it. I'm ready to get back to the have-tos and I don't feel nearly as burnt out. This will most likely be a Christmas present, but I still felt like I was making it for me. I should do that more often. I spend so much time making things for others, it's nice to spoil myself ;-)

actual color of the hat and detail of cables

full hat with braided ties :-)

Knitting is like childbirth

Ok, so I don't have children, I've never given childbirth, and my comparison is a bit of a stretch, but just give me a chance to explain.

I hear the same story from everyone I know who has multiple children. The first pregnancy happens and it's a wonderful thing. She has a baby growing inside her! Yay! Then the baby is due and she can't wait to get this #(*(@#^ blessing out of her. Time to give birth and lots of pain is involved. Soon enough there's this awesome new person and it's all worth it (well, until they turn into teenagers but that's a whole other story). A couple of months or years or whatever goes by and it's time to have another baby. By then most of the pain is forgotten. This chunk of time has passed and she has this awesome kid to show for it, so why not do it again, right? Then the cycle starts all over including the pain and the new added question of "Why am I doing this again? Why didn't I remember the pain? Omg what am I DOING?!?!?!" Of course she's past the point of no return, she gives birth, and yay there's a new baby and this one is awesome too. It's a vicious circle.

Here's the part where it relates to knitting. As we all know, knitting isn't my favorite thing to do (check out yesterday's post if you don't believe me). On occasion I get it in my head that I want to start a new knitting project. I'll find a pattern that is all kinds of awesome and amazing and I'll know that I can't achieve the same thing by crocheting (feel free to make your own knit-to-baby comparison here). I'll get my needles out and new yarn and cast on and I'll be happy - much like the pregnancy glow. After a while we enter the baby due-date section of knitting which is where I start swearing about "if I crocheted this I would freaking be done by now!!!" Then there's the birth where I just want to get the thing done and back to my other projects and wondering why I ever learned to knit in the first place and what the hell is wrong with me. Then it's over. I cast off and I have this beautiful new knitted item that I love. The pain is still fresh I know know I'm never going to knit anything again. Of course, a couple of days weeks or months pass and I get the hankering to knit again. Again, a vicious circle.

The reason I'm bringing this up now is that I finished my Beauxbatons fingerless mitts last night and I love them and they're amazingly awesome and I hate that I have to give them away in a swap. But I swear I'll never knit again. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have agreed to make a pair for my boss :-/

At this point the "glow" is gone and I know I could have finished them by now. Just put the thumb stitchs on spare cables.

Finished the main portion of knitting, just have to go back and add on thumbs. Do they really need thumbs? Can I stop knitting now????

Allllllllllllmost done! I completely finished one mitt, and all I have to do is weave in the ends and turn up the hems on the other mitt.

All done! Yay! I'm never freaking knitting again. Well, at least not until next time.

Fingerless Mitts of Doom

A couple months ago I signed up for the Triwizard Tournament Swap with my Hogwarts Swappers group on Ravelry. It sounded awesome at the beginning - something to represent each of the schools involved in the Triwizard Tournament. As soon as I started chatting with my partner and got a sense of the things she liked and the projects she likes to make, I thought I had brilliant ideas of what to make. Silly me, it didn't even occur to me that I only chose knitting projects.

To represent Durmstrang I knitted a Star Crossed Slouchy Beret and cussed the entire time. The cables didn't seem to even out for me, but at least the finished product looked good. Hats just aren't my thing. I think my spoilee will like it though - she said she loves slouchy hats :-)

 Check it out! The hat fitts on a balloon!

Bella the slouchy hat model. She doesn't looked too thrilled, but at least she's cute!

For Hogwarts I'm sending a project kit for Go Gryffindor Socks. I'm just happy that I don't have to knit them!

Last but not least, we come to the fingerless mitts of doom. That's what I'm working on this weekend. I just put the thumb stitches on spare cables and now it feels like I'm trying to knit with an octopus. It's crazy. The pattern is Susie's Reading Mitts and I'm making them to represent Beauxbatons. I thought they'd be quick and easy - that's what the pattern and other ravelry users told me anyway. Turns out they lied. I didn't realize there'd be hemming. Arg. I think they're going together faster than the Triforce Mitts I made recently, but not by much. I just want to finish them. Maybe the "quick and easy" comment was for more experienced knitters. Thanks to my "anything you can do, I can do better" mentality, I didn't even think about the extra time they'd take for me. Maybe I should go back to knitting instead of blogging.