Kris Awesome

So since I lost one of my CP size 1s (I have no luck with this size needle, honestly), and had seven Brittany replacements, I decided to try using Brittanys again.

It’s going better this time around. I don’t know if it’s just my imagination or not, but this set feels slightly sturdier. And I seem to have better control of my grip now.

Well, actually, I take that back. I have noticed that I tend to grip my needles a little tighter when OLB starts to annoy me too much (which, unfortunately, is most of the time). Broke my second needle in such a circumstance, and late last night had to stop working on my sock when I realized how tightly I was holding the needles. So this does limit on how often I can work on small projects, but at least I know when I can and can’t use the Brittanys now.

I think I just lost one of my DPNs in transit tonight. Motherfucker. As if this sock isn’t cursed enough already.

Guess I’m gonna have to keep a set of Brittanys. Oh darn. :-P And I’ll have four CP spares then.

On a brighter note: three whole balls and part of a fourth. That’s how much yarn I had left over from Cozy. Based on yardage alone, I would’ve used a little more than seven balls, but needless to say I had a whole lot of other factors influencing how much yarn I needed. Man. I still can’t believe I only used a little over half of the yarn I bought for that project. Early on I didn’t think I have that much extra, but my gauge changed slightly partway through (probably due to the knitting back and forth).

But, I think I finally came up with a use for the leftovers. Yes, it’s another lace-pattern wrap. Just narrower. Well, I hope it’ll be long enough for a wrap, anyway. We shall see. I’m going to finish knitting with this partial ball first, see how long that turns out, then take it from there. If it looks like I won’t have enough for a wrap, I’ll do a less-interesting scarf with the remaining 150g.

As to what pattern I’m using? I have no idea what it’s called. I’m a dork and completely forgot that while browsing through bookstores a couple of months ago, I’d written down a few stitch patterns I’d found in some of the books. (I’d gotten into the habit of carrying a small notebook and pen with me – a habit I picked up while backpacking, so that I could jot down everything from directions to three-line journal entries. It’s a habit that came in handy while I was looking for ideas for one of my sister’s scarves.) I didn’t write down all the pattern names, so when I found those pages in my notebook, I had absolutely no clue what some of them were. So I swatched a few of them until I found one I liked.

On a somewhat related note, it’s a bit of an ego booster to know that my finished Cozy inspired someone else to try out the pattern. Even if I’m not the designer, it’s nice to know that I at least knitted up the design well enough to make someone go “hey, that’s really nice, I want one too!” instead of “if that’s what you get from that pattern, I never want to try it.” I don’t know, it’s such a small thing, but it makes me happy.

I've had remarkably bad luck with the sock I started last weekend. Okay, it's not bad luck as much as it is my stupidity, but basically I've frogged the thing several times already.

Oh well. At least it gives me something to do.

I still haven't figured out to do with my three balls of alpaca yarn. As for the yarn leftover from my last pair of socks, I think combined with one or two more colors it'll be enough for a good-sized striped pair of socks. So I'm going to save it for now. All the sock yarn I have right now is the same kind, and most of the colors coordinate nicely with each other, so I'll see what happens after another solid-colored pair or two.

I'm not going to be purchasing any yarn this month either. I'm still unemployed, and I still have enough yarn for several projects. So, I'll going to be very good about limiting non-essential spending. Living solely off of savings is not exactly conducive to the purchase of new crafting materials, after all. I'm just grateful I built up a small stash before I had to leave Mandeville, makes all this spare time a little more bearable. :-P