Shades of Don McLean (Starry starry night . . . song about Vincent van Gogh)! Last night I was crankin’ away on Miriam Felton’s Seraphim Shawl (30 rows in) when I stopped, took a long look at what I’d done, and frogged the whole thing. Contrary to what you might think, it felt great. Being a process knitter, and embracing that in me, I found a while back that it is liberating to just admit when things aren’t what i want and bail—frog— if unable to make a substantive correction. I really recommend this mindset for everyone. Even if you really want that product soon, why go further in if it’s all wrong?
In this case, everything was wrong. I was using a deep green, fingering mohair (Filatura di Crosa) on very small, Harmony needles. Love those Options Harmony wood circs but small dark fuzzy yarn turns out to be hard to see on them . . . Hard to work, hard to see, a frustrating experience that was creating a too-dense fabric. Yes, I had swatched . . . but my tension over the difficulty of seeing the yarn and pulling it through was making me knit too tightly . . .and I am a very loose knitter! Anyway, I let it go for another day (on larger, lighter needles).
That’s OK. I recently received a bag of yarn from a friend (this is the third time in a few months!), single skeins and balls, and ordered a sampler from Knit Picks of their summer-weight cotton, cot-lin, bamboo, etc. skeins (beautiful muted colors selection they called “Victorian“). So, now I have a sort of a stash to work through. Will be working some of the 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders as well as the free sample patterns sent by Knit Picks. Fun summer knitting that will be quick and instructive. Planning to up my game with new stitches and techniques. Also, looking to knit more quickly. I really do knit very slowly and would like to do better. English style? Better throwing technique? Keeping the yarn closer to the needle tips? I’m planning to try them all. Also, will be in traveling in June (Okinawa) and then again in August (business . . . ?) so small, light projects are just the ticket for plane time.
Baby Surprise Jacket DVD arrived so I’m looking forward to watching that closely. My strategy is to really pre-think the the whole project before casting on so as to avoid some of the frustrations voiced by David D and Guido (wow, you guys are so famous you are mono-names, like Cher, Madonna, Fabio!).
In addition, I really want to finish Tsuchigusa before it gets too hot. I like the round, lacy knitting but still, we’re talking mohair and acrilon, both of which get sticky with humidity.
hAMImono 
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