Am I the Only One Who Forgot How to Knit?

So, I totally don't get it. I have been pretty much an obsessive knitter for a few years now. I have knit something, if only a few stitches, nearly every day for a LONG time.

I was at a loss for a new project, so I just decided to cast on for a chemo turban pattern I saw a long time ago. I don't have the yarn used, nor have I ever seen it. And it's an adult size, so I did something almost unheard of for me: I swatched.

Well, a little.

And I was soooo far off. It's a K4P4 rib, and I had this huge, loose, ladder-y-looking thing every time I switched from K to P and P to knit.

Huh?

That one is a mystery for the ages.

Completely frustrated, I frogged the swatch, rewound the yarn (a very yummy Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton in the most gorgeous soft yellow, by the way), and got out another recently queued pattern.

It was the Pixy Hat from my pattern-a-day calendar. Since baby hats are so tiny, I don't swatch.

This time, it wouldn't have mattered.

I decided to make the girl's version, which has a ruffled edge, created by casting on twice as many stitches as you need, K for 2 rows, then do [K2tog 3 times, P2tog once], all the way around.

Keep in mind, I said baby hat.

I cast on the 160 (!) stitches that it called for, followed the pattern, decreased, and then took a look. I held it up, made a face, probably uttered some unmentionables because I knew what I was seeing, and then I did the sizing test. I put it on my head.

Didn't even touch my hair. It was like a stinkin' hula hoop!

This week I have imbibed an insane amount of Nyquil, Dayquil Sinus, Prilosec, and Motrin. I'm blaming it on that. I can't possibly have forgotten to knit this week.

I mean, really...

Could I?

(And no. There is no photographic evidence of these atrocities...)

Ups and Downs

Bad, stupid hat.

Good, cute cabled hat.

Another leg portion for toy starfish. One of ten. On the LAST ROW. One too many stitches. UGH!

Tinked, counted stitches, row by stinking row. Likely missed a decrease somewhere, but I can't find it. I've tinked to the point of the INCREASES. UGH!

I think I must call Cap'n Frog and go all the way to the beginning. UGH!

Bad, stupid starfish leg...

Oops! I Did It Again...

Yes, I screwed up on an eyelet row again. Twice. Tinked 90-odd stitches, attempted to repair, discovered another mistake 2 rows down. Frogged three rows. Again. Talk about de-ja-vu! UGH!!

I guess now I know why I have no interest in knitting lace :-)

The good news: I think I'm done with eyelet rows. Now let'e see how many ways I can mess up my decreasing...

Just Call Me Tinkerbell. Or the Frog Queen.

Here's a sneak peek at my Caps for a Cure project:



You almost didn't see this. Yesterday on my second set of eyelet rows I discovered that I was off by 2 stitches. Huh? How'd that happen? After much thought, I decided to tink to the screwup I identified. 90 stitches of tinking. Oy.

I did it! With no twisted stitches. I re-knit the row, only to discover that indeed, there was another problem. Two rows down. On the other eyelet row. I spent much of the afternoon contemplating my possible solutions.

Tink?
Are you serious? That's over 300 stitches!

Frog to the row I need to fix?
Again, are you serious? Frogging in the round? You? Might as well frog the whole darn thing and start over!

I am very happy to report that I did frog to the offending row, and when it was all said and done, I had my original 104 stitches, present and accounted for. And not one of them was twisted. Thank you, Lord!

Now let's see how many more eyelet rows I can mess up before this is finished...
:-)