Knitting, why have you forsaken me?!

I should have known. Or more correctly, I knew. I knew the socks seemed a little big; they were a little loose when I tried them on. Wasn't too worried about it; mother assured me she didn't care.

I plugged along, finished the foot as per the instructions (1 inch shorter than foot length). Plowed through the heels (which are Double Stitch Short Row heels).

Y'all...they are ENORMOUS. Things went terribly, terribly wrong.

I checked my gauge when I first noticed the bigness, and thought I was getting 8.5-9 stitches per inch. Online calculators informed me that my stitch count (64) was right on for that gauge. But...I KNEW.

Having re-checked it (since I now have the world's largest sock swatch), I seem to be getting 7 stitches per inch! I don't know if things are stretching or I'm blind, or both.

At any rate, I have to RIP OUT THE ENTIRE THING AND START OVER.

Lessons learned:

1. Listen to your knitting common sense FOR GOD'S SAKE.
2. Quadruple check your gauge.

I'm digging my favorite trusty sock book out of storage as well, since it never steered me wrong before. Oh, and a size 1 circular (I'm pretty sure I have one somewhere).

ARGH. *insert sounds of my hysterical weeping here as I mournfully update my Ravelry page*

In other news, I guess this means I'll be able to snug up and perfect the heels the next time around.

Bad knitting, BAD!

My knitting is in a time out. 

It's a shame, really, because I was super excited about working on the Ripple Effect shawl, designed by my friend Rachel at Unraveled Designs.  I loved it so much when I saw it, that I immediately went out and bought yarn, despite the fact that I was supposed to be finishing my second Raphaelite sock. 

I had grand knitting plans, because my mom was having surgery and I was going to be staying at the hospital with her, and figured I'd have plenty of knitting time.  It was not meant to be.  Between getting her water, helping her adjust things, and talking to nurses, I couldn't fully concentrate on it, which is BAD NEWS.  I should have just stopped and played on my iPad, or read a book.  But no, Sam's voice was in my head scolding me about my lack of knitting, so I kept plugging away...and then totally mucked it up.  So much, I have to pull it all out and restart.

I was ticked.  So its sitting in a knitting bag by my couch and I refuse to even look at it.  Any of it.

We're supposed to have tea and knitting this coming Saturday, and I might actually bring a cross-stitch or something instead, I'm still so annoyed.  I mean...have you seen this adorable Halloween sampler?  Super adorbs!  [I am in denial].

False Start

I managed to start my 345-stitch cast on for the Peacock Shawlette (I'm doing a larger version) on Friday afternoon (the official Ravellenic start day), and even spent some of Friday night casting on as well.

My Saturday knitting plans were thwarted by my mother and the art museum in town, but Sunday I somehow managed to finish my cast on and start knitting. 

Alas, things did not start well, because when I picked it up again the other day and purled back, something seemed weird, even though my stitch count was right.  Knitting across again, I had an extra stitch.  I brought it into work for Sam to look at, and she noticed weirdness right away and suggested I "read my knitting" back and figure out where/if there were other mistakes.  I tried, only to realize that something had likely happened on either the first row, OR the purl row, and I was going to have to rip it all back and start again.

So I'm in the middle of casting on again right now.  Likelihood I'll finish by the end of the Olympics?  SLIM.

Curse of Dumbness?

...I don't know what's going on with me, you guys.  I was working on my mitten last night and things were going well, but then I noticed I had a weirdly loosey-goosey stitch.  This led to a series of problems I will not list here, but which ended in the frogging of my mitten (grumbleSOBgrumble).

I don't know if its my state of mind (not enough concentration?) or just some weird knitting curse (those exist, right?) but this is super frustrating!  I'm trying to actually work on things only to get thwarted at every turn (by my own mistakes)!

On the plus side, the needle I was using for my mitten was kind of annoying me (it wasn't really as long as I would've liked for magic loop), so maybe I can use this as an excuse to buy one >:)

Knitting would be easier if I wasn't so dumb.

I've been making an attempt to start my Raphaelite Socks for several days now.  First I thought the beginning of my toe looked weird, so I pulled it out.  Then I wasn't sure I was really doing the increases right, so I pulled it out, looked it up and started again. 

Things were going well until yesterday (still working on the toe, mind you), when I counted my stitches and realized one of my needles was missing one.  I assumed I'd accidentally forgotten to increase on one end of the previous round.  Alas, I had just finished a knit round, so I had to tink back that entire round and half the next to get to the trouble spot...but both my increases were there.  Which meant I either dropped a stitch (which I couldn't see), or I forgot an increase SOMEWHERE ELSE.  So I pulled the entire thing out again, because I didn't want to keep un-knitting for forever.  UGH.

I don't know how its possible I have managed to muck up this project four times and I'm only ON THE TOE OF A SOCK.  !!