These socks are fugged up.

So I'm starting over.

I had gotten the heel turned this afternoon, and when my husband got home from work he tried them on.

They were awful! The fit was poor, and I have no one to blame but myself. I noticed that the row gauge on the soles was different than the tops of the feet, but I soldiered on. I made a mistake on the gussets, but I kept going. The heel flaps were actually alright, they just didn't work. I cut my losses. I ripped them out.

The only positive about this project is that I love the colors of this yarn, so I'm just going to try a new pattern. I've cast on for the Java socks, which I hope will come out right and look good in this yarn. We'll have to cross our fingers. My husband would have worn the fugly socks, but he deserves the best socks. Ones that fit. And look good. And ones that I won't be embarrassed to admit that I made.

I hope to have better news the next time I post. Until then, Friends.

Home stretch? Not so much.

So, this week I thought I'd made some progress on the Rick socks, turning the heels and completing the gusset decreases. I'm not sure why I blew off the top-of-foot charts, though, but I did. What I got was a twisted foot to each of the socks that had no chance of being wearable. Of course, I couldn't really tell until I got the gussets decreased and had both tops on one needle and the soles on the other. Once I could see how twisted the socks were, I started ripping. A whole week's worth of knitting. So frustrating! I guess I'll just have to consider it another lesson in humility. Read the chart. Follow the chart. Trust the chart.

In better news, I've gotten a little farther along with the columbines needlepoint that I set aside for the Christmas knitting. I'm very pleased with how the background color is looking against the flowers. I'm so glad I chose a color with enough contrast. Now it's just slow and steady to get it done. With the 18 mesh canvas I'm working on here, that's 324 stitches per square inch. It's a lot of stitches!

Well, that's all for today, Friends. Let's hope for a little success.

I can never do things the easy way.

Take these socks for example. They're supposed to be CookieA's Milo, knit from Punta Yarns Merisock Handpainted. They're supposed to have a 78-stitch leg, mostly ribbed, with a cabled "X&O" going down the back of the leg.

54 does not equal 39.

What I've got is a 108-stitch leg, with 6 cabled "X&O" sections going all around. It might have something to do with my tendency to make things harder than they need to be. I'm pretty sure the chart was clear - I just assumed that there was a mistake and I was supposed to repeat the whole thing, not just the last four stitches. Had I paid the least bit of attention, I could have done the math and realized that 72+6=78 and that 72+36=108. Not only did I increase too many times, I also made myself do 10 more cable crossings than what was required. And I didn't have a cable needle when I did it, so I had to improvise. I made a simple sock cuff much more labor-intensive than it needed to be.

This one has the right number of stitches. And ribbing.

And the worst of it is that I have already knit this pattern once, so you'd think I would remember what I did last time. Nope. It's just so sad! There's not much point in having a great pattern if you're not going to follow the damned thing. I'm almost ready to rip them out and start over, and I'll probably do it tonight while I watch Downton Abbey. I think it's all I'm good for while that show is on. The last time I tried to knit during the show, I ended up with uneven toe decreases and socks an inch too short for my husband to wear.

So next time I hope I have better things to say about these socks. Until then, Friends.

You win some, you lose some.

Today was a mixed bag for my knitting. Early in the day, I decided that it was time to felt all the parts for the Hydrangea bag. I re-read the instructions a couple times, and once I felt like I had a handle on the concept, I threw caution to the wind and threw all that knitting into the washer. I checked it every so often, like the instructions said, and it actually turned out well. The flowers themselves could have gone a little longer, but I wasn't taking any chances on going too far.

Once I emptied the washer, I set to stuffing the bag so it would dry in the correct shape and I laid out all the flowers and turned up all the petals so they would dry nicely too. Everything is on the dining table and I'll give it a couple days to dry. I just hope the wet wool smell is gone by the time I get home from work tomorrow. I can comfortably call the felting a win.

I also made a little more progress on the Owl hat, having completed the ribbing around the face and the little talons as well. I made the ribbing a little longer than called for in the pattern, since I felt like it needed just a touch more around the face. I also changed how I did the talons; instead of following the designer's instructions, I used an i-cord technique that made a little more sense to me. The talons are also a win.

As for the "lose some" part of the title to today's post, I had all kinds of frustration with my Glacier gloves. And it was all my own damned fault. Sometimes I just overthink things, and tonight was one of those nights. I was working on the gloves and found that I was short one stitch midway through the round. So I un-knit that half of the round, then un-knit the previous round, because I thought I might have accidentally knit two stitches together. After all the un-knitting, I counted my stitches, and counted them again. As I had the right number both times, I decided that it was safe for me to re-knit the round and then re-knit the half round where I'd lost that stitch. When I got there, I was missing the same stinking stitch! I thought I'd die. But it turns out I wasn't missing that stitch after all. I was reading the wrong round of the chart. I was never missing a stitch. The Whole Damned Time. It took me two hours to figure this out and the whole thing was an exercise in futility. I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned here, but I think I'm immune to it just now. Tomorrow's a new day, as they say.

That's all I have for tonight. I'm going to set my knitting aside for tonight and hope for better tomorrow. Until next time, Friends.