Retreat! Retreat!

And we did. 10 members of our local DFW Chicks with Sticks group went on a weekend knitting retreat at Arabella Gardens in Lindale, TX. First I must give a shout out to the B&B - the food was so freaking good & our hosts were uber hospitable. We basically took over the whole place and they let us leave our knitting bits everywhere. We left our bags in the main house, walked around in our pjs, everything I do at home so it felt...well....homey. We had a stitch marker class where I made these:

I know it's a bad picture & to be honest most of my stitch markers were total cheaters. I found some cute bracelets at a garage sale for less than a dollar so I took it apart & just added jump rings to the charms. Cheater stitch markers are still functional. Three of those are authentic though.

A needle felting class where I fixed my Noni carpet bag. It deserves it's own post so I'll talk about it later.


This is what I bought at the yarn shop near the B&B - Rose Path Weaving
This is such a great shop & if you are ever in that area I suggest a visit. It's a small friendly shop with an amazing selection. Clockwise from top left:
Rio de la playa yarn (much like Manos), Berroco Lazer FX mirrored yarn that was in the clearance bin, naked sock yarn - lots of it, Lorna's Lace (gifted from Lise - since it's my favorite colorway in the world & so me), Koigu KPPPM in green/yellow, Lorna's Laces in Camouflage, Zitron Loft yarn - isn't it beautiful? Pink Wildfoote. Proud of me? I didn't even BUY that pink & brown yarn. Ok, I bought the pink Wildfoote but whatever. I'm back on the yarn diet, that really did a lot of damage to my budget.


This is the yarn that Liz & blogless Betty dyed. It was all so freaking gorgeous. Mine is an aqua/purple silk and I completely love it. I just put it in a good smelling bath so I'll post it as soon as it's dry again.

We had much fun & lots of memories, I'm sure I'll be back to tell a few stories or will at least mention it again. The highlight of the trip for me was going into "town" in sheep ears - the ladies are the yarn shop didn't seem the least bit surprised but I think the people at Walmart questioned our sanity. Whatever they need to have some fun!

Lise blogged much more about the retreat if you want to go visit.

Priscilla is Out of the Closet

Yep, she's back! In case you haven't met her yet you can read her full story here
Patrick kind of hates her because being true Texans (ie, gun owners) he is afraid that he'll see her, assume it's someone in our house to do us harm, and shoot holes in her. For her own safety she lives in my craft room. But he's out of town & the minute he was packed I pulled her out and let her model for me.


Truly Tasha Shawl

Go ahead & ohh & ahhh, yeah, I know it's pretty. But it's not that big - as it stands it might fit an anorexic model - or come to think of it a transexual manequin. The worst part of this whole story is that I KNEW IT WAS SMALL. When I started the edging I thought it looked small but thought that the edge would be bigger. When I saw that it wasn't that much bigger with the border I should have stopped right there. I didn't. I just kept knitting the lace border which definitely took me longer to knit than all of the garter stitch. I have no good explanation for this ridiculous and irrational behavior but I do know what my punishment is. I'm going to pull out the lace border (you have to pull it all out because it starts at the top right), continue the most boring knitting ever, then knit the lace border back on. What a pain in the ass. I'm glad the cold weather is over so I can do this over time.


My So Called Scarf

I loved loved loved this project. It went really quickly though I do attribute some of that to the multiple loves mentioned. It's relatively easy with out being boring. I really wasn't thrilled with the bind off edge thus the fringe. I hate doing fringe.

Side note: if you read that original post on Priscilla & are wondering, no I never did learn to sew. It's on my list for 2007 but so far no progress. Also, I gave Priscilla boob job - I put a bra on her & stuffed it so she'd be more feminine. I do recognize that even having done this means that I need help.

February FO

Man I did a lot of knitting & didn't finish much. I was more of a starter than a finisher this month.

* Truly Tasha Shawl
* Square for Warm Up America - Superbowl Knitting
* Fast Finish Homespun throw

The sad part is that I'm going to frog that Truly Tasha shawl any minute now. It's just not big enough & I don't like it. You have to understand, I always lose love for my projects when I'm finished with them. This time I actually have reason. It's knit to the measurements in the pattern but I don't find that it drapes as well as I wanted it to. The really sucky part is that I realized this when I started the lace border & instead of addressing it, I just kept knitting it. Now I have to frog the lace border all the way around the damn thing & knit more garter stitch. Ick.

Counting down to the Knitting Retreat next weekend......

Dye to the Extreme

I'm in a dyeing mode. I am LOVING all of the indie hand dyers & I secretly (or not so secretly) long to be able to create my own works of art. I doubt very seriously that I could ever sell any of it just because something in my genes won't let me part with yarn of any kind, much less the kind that I created.

A few weeks ago a handful of friends & I went over to our friend Lise's house & had a dye day. Here are some of the results using Koolaid or easter egg dyes. All of it came out lovely.





My final result


And as if that wasn't enough! This past Sunday I attended a class at Simpatico which is a lovely shop & if you ever get to the DFW area I highly suggest visiting there. My dyers in crime were Liz, Manda (who also did a podcast about our dye experience), Dawn, & Lise. Some of our friends thought we were nuts for taking a class (read: paying for a class) when we already knew how to dye. I am a firm believer in that you can always learn something else & during the class we used 100% Wilton's icing dyes & the results were fabulous.

Here is my Wiltons / Simpatico yarn




Needless to say, I'm (im)patiently awaiting a 50% off cake supply sales at Hobby Lobby so I can stock up on every single color of Wiltons. Loved this method.

Lots to say today. And very picture heavy

I have no one topic to speak of for this post, so here is my mis-mash.

I don't believe in posting in progress pictures because quite frankly when I read someone's blog & have to see their sock/scarf/sweater/blanket in 14 different stages it bores me to tears. So unless a WIP is important to a story I try not to show them much. Here is my exception - My So Called Scarf - how pretty is this? I swear I think it's one of my favorite projects ever. The Manos was a Christmas gift & I love it!


A finished object for a change - not many are done this month! This is a throw I knit on size 50s for my Grandma using Homespun in Regency.


This was the view into my knitting bag on Sunday. I thought it was beautiful & it made me so happy that I took a picture. I realize that's pretty indulgent of me to think anyone else cares, but hey, it's my blog!


Inside of that bag is some yarn that I dyed & then this Cherry Tree Hill mill end that I found on ebay for a little of nothing. Really a great value. I know I'm not supposed to be buying yarn, but come on! It was cheap & it's gorgeous - it is screaming to become a lace shawl of some sort.


I fell in love with this yarn when I was digging around on other knitting blogs & found this picture I was in a panic when I quickly discovered that the yarn had been discontinued. Naturally I went to ebay where sellers were getting ridiculous prices for it and I seriously couldn't justify the price for Trekking - even if it was Brach candy colored. I obsessed over it for days & found a little hope when I saw a comment that they were reissuing the color since there had been so much interest in it. I promptly found an ebay buyer with a reasonable Buy It Now price & scooped it up.


That's all the new yarn I'm buying - I swear. Well, swear seems a bit extreme. It's just yarn. I am going on a knitting retreat here in a few weeks & it is dangerously close to Rose Path Weaving so I can't be held responsible for what I buy there. It's a lovely little shop with tons of naked yarn & I am on a dyeing frenzy. Dye post to come.

"I'LL NEVER KNIT SOCKS" - did I say that?

I have a love-hate relationship with knitting socks. This is my story.

I started knitting in August of 2005 & really hadn't bothered knitting anything other than scarves for the first few months. I was at a knitting get together in November and a few of my new friends were taking a sock class at our LYS. I was intrigued because I saw those Pipi Longstocking knee socks in my Stitch N Bitch book & thought they were the cutest things ever. On a whim I signed up for class too. Keep in mind - I had never knit on DPNs or knitted anything but a rectangle. Plus I didn't know how to purl. It didn't occur to me that knitting socks might be hard or that at my skill level I probably shouldn't be in that class. You can imagine how thrilled the teacher was with me and it showed.

I ended up not being able to sit near my friends during the class- it was packed & seating was limited. The only DPNs I owned were size 5 - I didn't even think about buying a different size. I picked out a pretty yarn that I liked that was worsted weight - what the heck did I know? Do I have to tell you how awful this turned out? I am a tight knitter anyway & knitting worsted on size 5s was pure hell. Here was the other issue: homework. I really hate knitting on a deadline / being told what & when to knit. So the homework aspect of class didn't thrill me & I attached that to the project.

So I finished sock number one & told myself that was it - I was done. I met several other knitters that didn't knit socks & refused to knit socks (you know who you are) and we all talked about the sock knitters. We said that sock knitting was like a cult. All of the sock knitters want all other knitters to knit socks & we wouldn't be sucked in. We wouldn't drink the spiked "sock knitter" kool aid. Now, I say all of that in jest because some of my best friends are pure sock knitters. I have 3 friends that amongst them have enough sock yarn to open a store, a really really good store too! I just didn't get the appeal and I threw out all of the objections that I'm sure every sock knitter has heard more than they care to:
* You can buy socks for $2 a pair at the store
* They are knit on double points
* Those itty bitty needles drive me nuts
* My personal favorite - I don't wear socks

Fast forward to this past November, a year after my first nightmareish sock class, We got a group of local knitters together & asked our resident teacher for a socks on 2 circs class. I could see the benefit of knowing how to do this for sleeves, hats, and many other circular projects so I signed up. One of my friends pointed out that if I knit the same sock from my beginner class that I’d end up with a pair and be done with socks forever! During this class I figured out all of the problems I listed above with the original class. Everyone else in the class was using pretty sock yarn on smaller needles & I was jealous. I vowed to knit ONE pair of socks on appropriate needles & cool sock yarn. Coincidentally I had some Sock that Rock in Mist colorway in my stash. So here is my progress so far. Then Patrick whined – something about me knitting for everyone but him & not having any house socks, so I started these basic socks for him in Wool Ease, but on appropriately sized needles.



So, after that super long story - I know you are wondering, why did I fall under the sock spell? Did I drink the Koolaid? Have I been brainwashed? Was it peer pressure? Welll.....probably a little bit of all of those things mixed with public enemy #1 - THE YARN IS GORGEOUS. It's just beautiful. There are so many main stream & indy sock dyers that it's insane. And you can get a yarn fix for $20. Way cheaper than yarn for a sweater, shawl, or in a lot of cases even a scarf!

So that’s it! My very long & highly uninteresting sock story. To be honest I was just tired of answering all of my peers giving me shit because I am knitting on a sock at meet ups so I figured I would explain myself. As for my objections? Let me help you out….

* You can buy socks for $2 a pair at the store – You can also buy a sweater for $10 on a sale rack & a scarf for $5 at Walmart – what’s your point?
* They are knit on double points – ummm, no they aren’t, they are knit on circulars.
* Those itty bitty needles drive me nuts – yeah, well, get over it.
* My personal favorite - I don't wear socks – I’m currently rethinking my fashion plan. And I can wear them with my ugly Birkenstocks. And I’ll be making some that I can wear with my flip flops pretty soon. So I COULD wear socks if I wanted to.

Damn the Koolaid!

More new yarn?

The one thing I really hate about my blog is that it makes a liar out of me. I mean, I could use it to keep me accountable. I could also just stick my head in the sand and pretend that I haven't been buying new yarn. But then you wouldn't get to see the beautimous yarn that I've been squandering and you'd question my sanity. After you see it, surely you'll understand. Sometimes I feel like I'm more of a yarn buyer than a knitter, but I swear I'm knitting too. Look at my OTN list - it's growing.

Socks That Rock pile:

Pucks Mischief, Barney Rubble, Carbon, Downpour


January One for a shawl

Lime & Violet Room with a View - I lucked up & bought it probably an hour or two after they posted it. It's so freaking soft.


Yarn Pirate - Hydrangea & Dogwood. The other 2 are Online supersocke that I bought with a WE gift card.


I know - pretty, huh?

Secret Pal Loot

I participated in a secret pal swap & I got my loot this weekend. It is so good you are going to be jealous!


* Yarns Ahoy yarn in Berry Sour
* Cairi's Sweetheart Sock pattern
* an ADORABLE bag from Etsy.com
* D'vine wine
* 2 wine glasses personally embellished with copper wire
AND she hand made me:
* stitch markers
* row counter
* row counter bracelet
Can you believe it? I love love love it all. And it was color coordinated. In my favorite colors ever. Sigh.
Thank you Ronda, you are the best.

January wrap up

I'm doing this for my own benefit so I'm sure everyone will find it boring as hell, but here is what I finished in the month of January:
Texas Square for Elizabeth's grandbaby
Bernat Chunky chemo cap
Mardi Gras scarf for Tiff
Noro Fetching
Caron Simply Soft chemo cap (pink)
5 Fun Fur chemo caps

Yep - that's it for me. I started a Fast Finsih throw for my Grandma in Homespun Regency today - it's knit on 50s! That is just insane - I can't go from the sock project on size 2 to the size 50 - my hands are confused. I got some new yarn - I'll try to post some pixs tomorrow.

Game Time!

In light of my new goal of knitting from my current stash, let's play a game. This isn't a game in the traditional sense of the word - that means no prize. Other than the knowledge that you helped some kniterly spirit knit something beautiful from her stash. So if this was your yarn, what would you knit? It's Blue Heron Beaded Rayon in the Marshgrass colorway. Measures approximately 525 yards. I need help. Please. You know you are opinionated, use it for something good!

My New Goal

Just like most knitters I know, I have a lot of yarn. It calls to me in the store & begs to come home with me. I have been stashing up more & more lately because I made a little deal with myself. We are supposed to be doing some extra saving so we can buy a house & I have told myself that I'm going on a yarn diet. The past few months I stocked up since I'll have to be knitting out of my stash - I mean, right?

So here's what I've been doing. I am going through all of the yarn I have and deciding on a project for the yarn that I have. I figure if I don't know what to do with it I need to destash it, sell it on ebay, give it away....something. So you might see a pile of yarn on here with me begging for an idea for a project so I don't have to get rid of it. Right? MUST. KNIT. FROM. STASH.


Here are some of my most recent purchases though I think I know what I'm doing with all of it.
Sweet Georgia sock yarn a friend got me in California


I had a weak week. Weak as in weakness for staying away from yarn shops & the internet. Counter clockwise from the bottom left.....4 skeins of Knitpicks Shadow yarn to knit Carpathia. Of course it only takes one skein but I had to buy four???; Schaefer Anne in the most gorgeous purple / green colorway. It ended up being a gift but I took a picture before I parted withit & left it because it's gorgeous. Colinette Jitterbug in Bright Charcoal. Schaefer Anne in obnoxious neon colors. SWTC Karaoke for Fetching. It only takes one skein, so I bought two. Noro Silk Garden Lite for Argosy. Wow. That makes me look like such a Knitty.com follower! Which I guess I am.....


This is Rowan RY Classic brand Silk Wool & the beads to go along with it. I took a class at The Shabby Sheep on beading & making the Beads of the Earth scarf from Scarf Style. I'm awfully glad that I took the class & I love that scarf. I'm not generally drawn to green but how many pink scarves can a girl own? (currently 3, but that's not the point)


This is the yarn I bought when we went to New York City over the Thanksgiving holidays. Karabella Chamelon & some naked worsted to hand paint.



I have more but I'll take pictures when it A) comes in the mail or B) I feel like pulling it all out.
Pretty, huh?

I've Been Fixed! and other things I've been doing.

Well, I know in my heart that there is no "wrong" way to knit. I was taught to knit continential style by a friend and after trying to purl I realized that I didn't knit the same way as the people that taught me. I adamantly refused to change the way I knitted. I asked for and received that book Knitting for Anarchists. I prided myself on being one. But let's get real peope. I knit so tightly that I could never match gauge. The fabric I created was awfully dense. And worst of all, my wrists hurt. So I broke down & went to The Knitty Fairy, Alissa Barton, and she is trying to help fix me. In reality I was only doing one thing wrong - wrapping my yarn over the top of my needle before pulling it through which twisted my stitches. I won't bore you with the details but I'm now trying to fight 18 months of muscle memory to fix it. It's neither fun or easy but I must say - it's so much easier & much less stressful on my wrists.

I anticipation of this fix, I've been knitting chemo caps for the local hospital. I didn't want to start a huge project so I've been getting many things off the needles. Here are some photos of said chemo caps. And Fetching fingerless mitts for my stepmom out of Noro Silk Garden. And this scarf for my cousin that lives in New Orleans. Very classy Mardi Gras, no?

Six Weird Things About Me

I've been tagged by Lise http://knittingrose.blogspot.com/ to tell 6 weird things about me.

1. I don't like my food to touch. I think those plate you use in school cafeterias are about the best invention ever. I own some & often use them at home.
2. On a similar note, I usually eat one thing at a time. I go in order of what will taste the worst cold - like I'll always eat brocolli first because I think cold brocolli is disgusting. If I go from one food to the other while I eat, I take a sip of something.
3. I own a lot of onesie glasses / cups. At home I match the color of this cup to what I'm wearing, usually my PJs.
4. I don't like for anyone else to even thumb through my new magazine. After I read it I don't care, but I have a thing about it. I look through the whole magazine page by page, then I go back through & read what I want to read. And until I do, don't fuck with my magazine. I've learned the hard way that this goes for knitting books as well.
5. My pajamas have to match. I can't for the life of me wear non matching clothes to bed. Who cares? As a matter of fact, I did this about 3 weeks ago & Patrick thought the body snatchers had the "real" me. He said in 3 years he's never seen my pjs not match.
6. My toenails have to be painted. Always. I don't remember a time in my whole life since I was a little bitty girl that they had no polish on them.

I know - that is all weird, but you asked!

Stitch Marker success!

It seems that most of my knitting friends were gifted with the ability to also make stitch markers. They occassionally bring them to get togethers and hand them out like candy. Each time I get one I am amazed at how different they all are and I figured out why I like them so much - they are jewelry for our knitting! How cool is that? So I finally got one of them to give a quick lesson and I loved it. SO fun. Just what I needed- another addiction. Little sheep, skull, itty bitty sock marker.

The Purple Purse eater

I was reading Amy Singer's blog on Knitty.com & she was commenting on how she always felt like a Pollyanna & that she always has a positive spin on her entries. Hmmm, I agree although to be honest, I want to hear the screw ups so that a) I don't make the same mistakes b) I don't feel like such a loser since many times my projects don't come out right c) well, it just makes for a better blog story than "Look how pretty my project came out". I mean, right? If so, this is such a story.

In previous posts I have shown you pictures of my pretty Noni Carpet Bag. I did the Rather Huge version so it's a ton of yarn (10 skeins with flowers). I finished it in early September but I have just procrastinated felting it. All my knitting friends were giving me such a hard time that I hadn't felted it & just kept asking "why, what do you think is going to happen????". Hmmm, I don't know - really I don't & I'm scared & I don't wanna. So under extreme peer pressure I felted it. The flowers were first & they felted well, were pretty after someone else figured out how the "innards" were supposed to be arranged. Quite frankly, the way I had them looked like a penis & the last thing I wanted was a penis purse. Then came the actual bag & handles felting. And it faded. Like really bad. The brown completely ran on the pink part & turned my favorite color combination into a lavendar/ chocolate brown disaster. See for yourself




So what is that answer? I'm going to take it to my LYS & see if I can find a color to make more flowers to put on it. Then I'll find appropriate lining & put it together & use it as a knitting bag for a while. I may end up gifting it because I honestly don't know if I can look at it without feeling ill. I'll let you know.

Since several people have asked, I'll add that I used Cascade 220 wool - Pink was color 9477 && the Brown was 8686.

November wrap up

Well, I've done a great job of avoiding my blog - though I have been knitting. Right now I'm on Christmas presents so I can't post in progress pictures, but here are some things I've finished lately.

Fetching fingerless mitts for me - knit from Trendsetter Kashmir. This yarn was such a freaking dream to work with. If I hit the lottery, I'm making a sweater out of it!


Scarf knit from James T. Brett marble yarn in a basket weave pattern


This is a straight garter stitch scarf that I started in the summer for my niece for Christmas. I bought the yarn on clearance at Walmart & it is just adorable.


2x2 ribbed scarf knit from a yarn I got at a friend's moving sale. I'll post the yarn name if I find a label. I knit it with the intent to wear it in New York over Thanksgiving but I promptly finished it in the airport on the way home. My timeline was rather optimistic.


Happy Holidays!

New Projects

Man I've been doing some knitting though you wouldn't know it to look at my blog. So much for my once a week update. Here are some things I've been up to:

This is a hat for MOI in the new Patons SWS yarn in the Natural Pink colorway. We did a secret pal swap this month on our DFW Chicks with Sticks yahoo group & this was one of the yummy things in my bag. I just love the color and it was awesome to knit with.


Ok, this is also for me. I have been wanting a pink alpaca scarf & here it is - Cameo Faggot scarf pattern using Plymouth Chunky Alpaca yarn. I love knitting with this stuff. Muchly.


This is a gift for Patrick's dad using the same Plymouth Chunky Alpaca in ivory - obviously - knit in a basket weave pattern.


Fetching fingerless mitts knit with Debbie Bliss merino dk yarn that I found on sale - this was my first attempt at this Knitty.com pattern but be on the lookout for more, these are a gift but I'm in the middle of mitt #1 of my second pair.


This is an accidental knit if there is any such animal. I was walking with my Ipod the other day & it was really getting on my nerves - the whole having to hold it while I walk thing. I started dreaming up a really easy sock type thing that I could hang around my neck like the Ipod Shuffle. Here ya go! Knit with Caron Simply Soft in PANK obviously - really easy. This was my first attempt at knitting icord & I really enjoyed it. I am easily fascinated I suppose.

That's it for now folks! I have several projects OTN but I'm not naming them because several of them have "frog" written all over them.

Crock Pot Yarn Dyeing

I posted this yarn on some websites I frequent & have gotten several request for the instructions, so I figured I'd put it out there. The internet is such a strange & wonderful world - I have been told that crock pot instructions using this dye method are not easy to find. I am on the quest to elevate my blog to the top of google searches - try googling "Erdal Lazer" yarn - I am second only to ebay if any is listed at that time, which proves the inadequacy of the company's marketing skills - I personally think I should get free yarn for that, but I digress.

First of all, I can not claim credit for these directions. I will give them too you just as my knitting friend Ronda in Fort Worth gave them to me. I met her for the first time on the same day I saw this beautiful yarn that she had dyed & I thought she was entirely clever. Here we are months & months later & I still think so.

For my crockpot dyeing mission I used Wilton's Icing Dye. I think I got mine at Hobby Lobby for a few dollars, but I've also seen it at Michael's & similar stores. It apparently comes in varies consistencies but I used the paste. The yarn in the picture shown above was made with black dye. Just black - can you believe it? Apparently they get the dark colors by blending other colors so they split when you cook them & this is what you get. I also tried using the burgundy color but I just got pink yarn, so if you use something dark like purple or dark green or something similar, and it splits to give you varigated yarn, PLEASE let me know - I don't dye yarn to get one color - to me it just isn't as interesting.

This particular yarn is Paton's Merino Wool in an ecru color - any animal fiber should work. I started by taking it out of the skein & wrapping it in a hank, then tie it LOOSELY with a scrap piece of yarn (if you use acryllic you will see just how true it is that acryllic won't absorb dye -very). When I say tie loosely I mean it - you can see in the picture that some of the areas I tied didn't take as much, in some cases any, dye. I have a bigger crockpot - it's 4 quarts as far as I can tell - and that is what I used. Sidenote: If you don't have one, they are often at garage sales for a few dollars. I put the yarn in my crockpot & added enough water to cover the yarn. Then I put in a quick pour of white vinegar - that sets the color in the yarn & also makes it smell like.....vinegar. I let the yarn sit in the vinegar water with the crockpot off for about an hour. I took a butter knife & dipped the tip of it into the dye paste & pulled it out - there was maybe a 1/2 teaspoon of dye on there? That is PLENTY enough. Take the butter knife with the dye on it & stab the yarn in 3 or 4 or 5 spots until the knife is empty. Let the yarn cook on high for several hours - I check it every hour or so but you'll know when the yarn has taken all of the dye because the water will be clear - or very nearly clear.

To be honest I'm not sure if some of my method is overkill & what I made up myself - like letting the yarn sit that long, but I do know that it needs to be saturated. So take these non-professional directions with that in mind. Some people want exact times & measurements & I understand that - I'm usually that person. What I've had to convince myself of is that this is ART & you can use these guidelines or experiment - the products are generally pretty inexpensive & dyeing is so fun.

The Stupidest Knitter Alive

I may not be, but I really feel like it. And not just because I used the word "stupidest" even though I know it's not grammatically correct. I feel like such an idiot & I imagine looking at that picture, you can imagine why.

I am currently knitting up the Noni Rather Huge Carpet Bag. I couldn't believe how quickly it was knitting up & that I was nearly done, so this morning I started knitting bright & early so that I could finish it up & bind off. So I did.

When I was a credit analyst for the bank, they used to make us do an exercise called "Spilled Milk". We were periodically assigned loans that had defaulted & that the bank had lost money on and made us re-analyze it & write up how we could have predicted this loss when it was originally underwritten. I couldn't help but think this is a spilled milk project if I've ever seen one! Let's recap:
A) The pattern called for 4 skeins of each color of yarn - you hold 2 of each color together. Last night I was telling Patrick that I wasn't even through 2 skeins of each color & that I must be knitting extra tight or something. I was already contemplating what I'd do with that left over pink & brown yarn. I could make another bag as a gift!
B) It wasn't rather huge. It was rather short. I mean really short. Can anyone say "half as short as it should be"?
C) The fact that I kept saying "gee this is knitting up so quickly"!
D) Never underestimate the gut feeling that something is wrong. My gut is pretty wise. (also true in the credit world, btw).

You see, I should be knitting 10 rows of EACH COLOR. I knit 10 rows total. I even re-read the pattern several times and counted at least 5 times to make sure I was right. I just think somewhere the damn pattern should say "you should have 20 rows total" considering they gave every other direction in every possible way as if they were talking to The Stupidest Knitter Alive. Sigh. I'll take responsibility for my screw up. I am just heartbroken because now I've cut my yarn on the first skeins on top of the fact that I already did the bind off. Going to unbind off. What do you even call that? Double sigh.