Three for Three

With a whole DAY to spare this month, I've completed another shawl. That's three months, three shawls.

Seven still to go though, but only one more big one after last months Adamas shawl.

In another month or two, I should have enough evidence to get away with anything by pleading insanity, right?

Smug

Having finally realized (or accepted) that I long ago reached SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy), I have been making a concerted effort to dig out and finish assorted WIP's, WISP's, and UFO's. I figure when my son has to hold my estate sale someday, it will be easier to sell complete, unopened kits than half finished items. (And no, I don't expect this temporary round of being good and responsible to last, my Start-itis is both chronic and severe.)

In digging around through the various WIP's, I found the Midwinter's Eve shawl from Goddess Knits. Upon pulling it out of its project bag, I realized I was almost done with clue 3 out of 5 total. Figuring this would be a good one to pick up, since it would be a relatively quick finish, I started knitting on it again.

Only a row and a half in, I realized something was very wrong. What I was doing did not look at all like what was already in the shawl. I put it down and thought for a bit, then realized that in the last year and a half, I have corrected some rather strange things I was doing with my knitting (a result of being originally self-taught). I went back, studied the fabric of this shawl, compared to the fabric of more recent items, and, (here's the smug part), not only figured out why it looked different, but was able to recreate it so I don't have to start all over!

I used to knit wrapping yarn clockwise, which results in twisted stitches. This is not something that's particularly noticeable in a finished item (unless you're a master knitter, or a ranking officer in the Knitting Police), so I have no problem finishing this shawl as is. I am now merrily knitting away on this in a completely "wrong" manner, while at the same time knitting "correctly" on other items, which makes for an interesting few minutes when first switching projects.

And people wonder why I'm so confused all the time.

Hubris

hu·bris (hyōō'brĭs)
n. Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance: "There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris" (McGeorge Bundy).

[Greek, excessive pride, wanton violence; see ud- in Indo-European roots.]
hu·bris'tic (-brĭs'tĭk) adj., hu·bris'tic·al·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

hubris

1884, from Gk. hybris "wanton violence, insolence, outrage," originally "presumption toward the gods," of unknown origin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

hubris

The act of angering the Gods of Knitting by somewhat bragging about a good round of finish-itis.

So far, this has earned me a little over a weeks worth of frogging, tinking and screaming.

The Broadripple socks? Yeah - should've checked gauge when I decided to use a different yarn. Frogged back from just past the heel turn and restarted with an extra 8 stitches added.

The Queen Anne's Lace shawl? Apparently 5 rows of self corrected mistakes, resulting in careful tinking (it's already been to the frog pond once), counting, re-counting, carrying to a friend to have her count and verify that yes, the row should indeed end in a multiple of 9.

I've been afraid to even touch paint or fabric. That's a LOT harder to correct than picking out knit stitches.

Anyone have any suggestions? Do I need to sacrifice stash? Attend remdedial kindergarden for counting week? Seriously. Help!!!