Unravelled

I've had to do some serious ripping this week. First there was the gansey. Yes, I know, it doesn't bear thinking about, but it's true, I've had to rip....and this is why:

Yup, it's big enough for a giant! I was knitting along quite merrily, developing some length and then making the gussets, when I had to split on to two needles for front and back. That's when I realised that not having a pattern to work from (or previous experience knitting ganseys) had resulted in an overestimation in the stitches department. Yes, my gansey could fit King Kong!

I'd have made it for P.A. if I hadn't already put my own initials on the front, plus for some reason he seems to think that it's even too big for him. I think he's right. As a result, I'm back at the frog pond. This time I don't mind though. I like this Fisherman's Yarn (the smell reminds me of my childhood gansey) and so I'd rather start all over again and make something wearable. You win some, you lose some!

Mind you, this was not the end of it. I'm having a run on ripping right now. My latest socks are also giving me trouble.

On Wednesday I started my first Toe Up, Two-At-A-Time, Magic Loop socks (yes, I'm doing 2 on one needle!) All was going well until I discovered that one toe was starting to stripe differently. I'd started them at what I thought was the same place in the colour pattern, but about three stripes in I found that one started to stripe in white and the other green. Turns out that one skein was wound the opposite way to the other. I ripped back and rewound the ball, certain of success the second time around. Lady luck was not smiling. The same thing has happened again, so I can only surmise that the skeins are dyed slightly differently.

I've given up. I'll just have to have non-matching socks. The most important aspect of this exercise for me is learning the technique. It builds upon both my Magic Loop Socks and the Two-At-A-Time Socks (see previous post.) I'm so glad that I worked my way through both of those techniques before attempting two socks on one needle. It's given me an understanding of the processes involved which is now helping me deal with one long circular and two balls of yarn at the same time.

Toe-Up is fun too. I've CO using Judy Becker's invisible "Magic CO" and it's fantastic. I can foresee a lot of use for this, especially for the base of totes or pin-wheel shawls. I found all the info I needed to get going on my toe-ups thanks to Charisa Martin Cairn, who's put it all into an easy pdf called "Lifestyle Toe Up Socks" Check it out.