WIP Wednesday...Did You Just Hear a Frog?

Oh yeah...I just dropped the "Knitter's F-Bomb"...FROG.  Wanna see the destruction?

Yup, it's those damn Thermal Socks in that damn black yarn.  Frogged.  Gone.  At the county refuse facility at this very moment.  I have never thrown away perfectly good yarn before.  But there's nothing good about splitty black yarn.  Sadly, for as much as I complained about the pattern, it wasn't the pattern that did these socks in.  I'd adapted it and made peace with it.  It was the yarn.  When I started working on them last weekend, I discovered I'd used the wrong yarn for the wrong socks and had joined them.  This started a futile bout of cussing and tinking, with more cussing than tinking because the yarn began splitting, stitches began dropping, and the whole thing was just so freakin' dark I couldn't see where to try to pick the stitches back up.  And that's when I said, "Enough".  These socks had served their purpose of helping me learn to knit two toe-up socks on one circular needle, and I decided to put me out of their misery.  Frogged.  Croaked.

The rest of my knitting week was much more successful.  However, not a lot of knitting (at least not a lot for ME) got done.  I'm having some discomfort in the top of my left hand, between my index and middle fingers, and some stiffness after a good power knitting session.  So this week, I went easy on the knitting.  I made a little progress on Evenstar, Clapotis, Ruffled Edge Wrap, and Revontuli-huivi, but not enough to warrant boring you with pictures of the measly ten or twelve rows I managed to knock off.  I'd hoped to have made it past the first drop stitch row on Clapotis, but as it turns out, I'll probably get there later tonight. 

Here are the remaining projects that for one reason or another I thought were photo-worthy this week.

Project:  Baby Boy 5-Hour Sweater
Yarn:  Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted
Needles:  #10
Date Started:  February 25, 2011 using #9 needles.  Frogged and restarted using #10 needles March 5, 2011
Progress:  20% (46 minutes)
Pete stopped by to see Raechel and Austin while I was getting my hair cut this week and told me he is really growing fast.  I knit the gray sweater on #9 needles, and it fit him nicely, but I wanted him to be able to grow into this one a little (hopefully!), so I moved up to #10s.  This pattern calls for a knitted cast-on, but I didn't really see the advantage to that in the last sweater so I did a long-tail cast on, which is what I prefer.

Project:  Hearts Abound Socks
Yarn:  Knit Picks Essential Kettle Dyed in Wine (Discontinued)
Needles:  #1, 47" circular
Date Started:  March 5, 2011
Progress:  5%
This is the "February" sock, next in line after the frogged January sock debacle.  I decided to use a 47" circular on this one instead of the 40" because I thought the frogged socks were a little crowded on the needle and that it contributed to the laddering problems.  Obviously, I'm not very far into this pair, but it does feel a lot easier to move the socks around on the longer needles and even though I'm kind of fighting the extra needle length, I like the results a lot better.  I like the yarn a lot better, too!  Yummy shade of wine...and the pattern is adorable.  I'm going to really enjoy making these socks. 

Project:  A Very Braidy Cowl
Yarn:  Manos del Uruguay Maxima in M9079 Currant
Needles:  #8
Date Started:  February 27, 2011
Progress:  45%
Ok...I really have no reason to show my progress on this except that I'm almost halfway done...and isn't this just the most freakin' amazing thing you've ever seen in your life???????  I'm totally in love with this pattern and this yarn.  So in love that, for as much as I want spring to get here, I'm praying for one more good cold snap just so I can wear this baby a couple of times.  And for as amazing as it looks, it feels even better...so soft, warm and cushy. 

 

Project:  Sideways Hat

Yarn:  Lana Grossa Cento in 009 Green/Purple

Needles:  #8

Progress:  20%

Date Started:  February 8, 2010  March 8, 2011

Date Finished:  February 9, 2010

Ok...I know you're scratching your head and wondering why I'm featuring a project I finished over a year ago.  Um, because it doesn't fit.  I loved this hat when I knit it.  I started it a year ago on my husband's birthday and finished it the next day when we had a snowstorm that dropped about ten inches of snow on us.  I remember finishing the hat, putting it on, and heading out to shovel the driveway.  I remember thinking how warm my head was and being happy that I didn't have hat hair when I came inside and took it off.  I remember it actually fitting on my head and not dropping down and resting on my nose which is what it did this year when I put it on.  My hair was shorter and fluffier a year ago...that's my only excuse.  I don't think my head shrunk nor did my hat decide to go on steroids while in storage over the summer.  Regardless...it didn't fit, so I frogged it, went down a needle size, and have started it again.  It's a fun project, so I don't mind.

Hope you enjoyed this little excursion through my WIP world.  I also hope my hand starts feeling better so I can start knitting at my usual accelerated rate again.  Don't want to bore my readers!  Happy knitting!