What I Made in January

It has to be said January was a frustrating month knitting wise. Because of all of this:-

1  I wound some wool from a skein into a ball to do a shawl which the wool was perfect for. Sadly when push came to shove, I couldn't find the pattern, which I am 100% certain I have somewhere.

2  I cast on a fair isle pattern scarf and got quite a long way before I realised that the pattern on the chart from which I was knitting, and the pattern on the photo of the finished article, were different. Since I was knitting the scarf from a pattern in a magazine but had also been gifted the book from which it was taken for Christmas I thought it would be no great hassle to knit from the book instead, Except that the book had the exact same error, a motif that was completely missing.

3  I cast on a pattern for a pair of long fingerless mittens that I've been planning to do for ages and ages, but had to give up because the chart is too tiny and too faint for my problematic eyesight.

4  This had been designated as the year in which I picked up and finished many of my previous unfinished projects and also knitted up various kits that I have lying about the place. I decided to start with a rather nice reversible cabled cowl that I started way back in January 2014 and had given up on. I was doing really well with that until I discovered that there were no fewer than three errors in this pattern as well. I managed not to fling the thing from me with shouts and cries of destruction and despair when I discovered this  but calmed myself down and contacted the designer who very kindly sent me a corrected pattern, chart and special stitch instruction list, all of which contained errors in the magazine version I had been struggling with.  Trouble is  by the time I got those I had totally lost all enthusiasm for the project.

 

5 I suffered my first ever instance of second sock syndrome. For non-knitters this is the term for what happens when you have knitted the first sock of a pair and all of a sudden the idea of knitting the second one is just too much to contemplate This is the pattern in question

 

 

It's lovely but I can't face the prospect of knitting it again and with the cables twisting the other way. Or at least I can't  face it just now. I'm sure I'll man up and do the second one before too long.

 

I did finish a scarf in some Rowan kidsilk haze that a friend sent me for Christmas. Kidsilk haze is beautiful, light, fluffy and incredibly warm but is an absolute pain to have to take out should the occasion arise. So the thing is to knit something really simple with crossed fingers. Like a stocking stitch scarf.  Here it is

 

 

and as there was a very little bit of the ball left I was able to make one for a doll too.

 

And then I did some Calm Yourself Down socks

 

These were made with some very hard to get yarn produced by an American dyer who went out of business a couple of years ago. I have several skeins of her yarns and I have to say this was a dream to work with and feels incredibly soft and comfortable on my feet. It was a soothing knit on days when I felt I needed it because really January gave me more hassle than I was prepared for and I am hoping that February will be an improvement.

 

Just call me Pollyanna-in-Waiting.