return of the Arggh Lace Monster

I cast on for the Woodland Shawl. I read the directions too literally, as the first few rows are kind of vague. She says "begin pattern" so I took that to mean "row 1 of pattern" instead of the pattern set-up row. Confusion! I almost threw it out the window and started crying because I couldn't figure out why everyone kept saying "omg this is so easy!" and I was having such a hard time. Duh.

After I realized my mistake, I frogged back a few rows to the edging. Now it's coming along very well. It's pretty fluid since the repeats aren't insane and the stitches are easy. Hopefully I can speed through this!

I am using 2 skeins of discontinued KnitPicks Memories to do this. My yarn is only about 440 yards, while the pattern uses 460. Hopefully this won't make a substantially shorter wrap. I have messaged someone on ravelry who has some extra skeins up for sale, so hopefully I'll hear back about that... just in case. I plan on wet blocking it too, so maybe I can get some stretch out of it when it's all done.

@#%@ing lace

I am working on the Luna Moth shawl right now. It's not a difficult pattern, but not something you can sit & do mindlessly. I have only gotten about 40 rows in. I sit and do about 5 rows, and end up having to frog about 3 back. Somehow there ends up being an extra stitch or one too few every few rows.

This is a great way to make me feel like an idiot. I really want to finish this one, and I really do like the pattern, I'm just not really in the frame of mind to work on something so intricate. Not to mention this isn't exactly commuter-friendly. Having to refer to a chart every few stitches on a crowded subway train is an exercise in frustration.

Grah. F'ing lace. I think I'll save this one for weeknights, and switch to something more stockinette-heavy for to/from work. Now to narrow down the choices... Most of the other projects in my queue involve either a lot of charts and/or cables. I think I might just try out the 1930's sweater. It seems pretty uncomplicated enough for me to get through without crying. ;) I think I even have some stash yarn, so I won't have to order anything special to get it started.

On the less grumbly side, I blocked the entrelac scarf, and was really happy with the finished product. I ended up using pretty much all three skeins of the Silk Garden. If I do this one again, I'll probably skip one of the middle blocks to create a longer & more narrow scarf.

I finally inviested in a swift. I had something like 10 hanks of sock yarn. I tried to wind them into center-pull balls to knit from, but the two I tried to do by hand ended up in horrific tangles that took me three days to undo. I did the other 8-10 balls with the swift in less than a half hour. LOVE. I foresee a few sock patterns in my very near future.