Success helps

Thank heavens for Urchin. It was a quick hat with some interesting new things to learn that used a full skein of yarn and looks completely unlike anything I could have bought in a store.

It’s exactly what I needed.

This thing took no time at all to make. I don’t think it looks half bad, either (though I know I’ll never look as good as Ysolda in it)! The short row shaping was fun, and I learned how to do a provisional cast on *and* garter stitch grafting! Hats are also like comfort food to me. If I’m feeling low about my abilities, my best bet is to make a hat. In fact, I was feeling so much better after finishing the Urchin, that I got down to the business of overhauling the cuff of the Heir of Slytherin Coriolis.

This was serious surgery. I was ripping back like a full inch and a half, so I did the “put needle in right arm of stitch to hold it in place and frog away” trick. I only grabbed the wrong stitch in a couple of places, but managed to fix that with some crochet thread, a tiny hook, and a lot of profanity. A few rows of 1×1 ribbing and a sewn bind off later and I finally FINALLY have one sock completed. I was trying to finish before the next shipment from the sock club came in, but apparently it’ll be here any day now. Even at top speed I’ll probably be a little past my goal, but I think I really understand this pattern now. But I gotta say, the New Pathways patterns are not for people who don’t like math and thinking. The coriolis pattern itself, however, is great for handpainted yarns like this. I wasn’t really jazzed about these colors when I first got the yarn (not the pallette that I would pick myself), but I’m really growing fond of them as the play out in this pattern. Really looking forward to what Carrie does with Prizoner of Azkaban’s cover. It’ll also be my first time knitting with a bamboo blend. Is it weird that this is so exciting to me?