I have a dilema. I've discovered an error in the afghan. Not in the pattern, something I have done. I've lost a stitch in one of the panel sections. Not a dropped stitch, just a missed, M1 or something. Problem is, the error is 58++ rows back!!! As I see it, my options are:

1. Rip out 58++ rows (OUCH!!)
   
2. Try to rip out 58++ rows of that one 18stitch panel and knit it back up correctly
   
3. Find a way to fudge it and create the extra stitch I need
   

Obviously number 3 is most appealing, but I worry about making an ugly VISIBLE mistake by doing that. I REALLY don't want to rip out 58++ rows, and don't really have time to do that. (nor do I have time to keep setting the whole thing aside in disgust which is what I have been doing)

The hat felted up BEAUTIFULLY! It shrunk more than I expected, but it seems to be the perfect amount. It needs to be kid sized, and it looks just right. The red, orange and yellow all felted together so nicely to really look like fire. It's just drying now, I'm trying to keep the brim nice and flat. It seems a little floppy but I think a lot of that is due to the water weighing it down. I wish I had a digital camera to take a photo of it. Hopefully the recipient can share a photo with me later.

I started a hat for my sister too. I don't know that she wears hats, but the style seems like what she would wear. I'm sort of stuck for birthday ideas for her.

Off to felt! I'm leaving in a moment to head to mom's to felt the hat and a little side thing made out of the spare yarn - wish me luck!

I brought some socks I've had on the needles for a while to work on once I finished the hat knitting. I screwed them up, big time! I was knitting away on them when I realized I'd done them as toe-up socks, but done the heels as though they were top-down socks! Very silly! Off to the frog pond with those I guess.

The afghan is going ok. I screwed up a panel back and lost a stitch somewhere. It wasn't dropped, just not done properly so I ended up one shy in the end. Hopefully I can fix it without mass frogging. I am going to run out of yarn too, so I headed to both walmarts in town. One doesn't carry it, the other won't give me a straight answer on whether they will get my shade back in. ((sigh)) I lucked out on ebay though and found 2 balls (I needed one) on fairly cheap. Shipping will be over $7 US (that's $10++ canadian) but it's worth it to be able to finish the afghan :)

As promised, a photo of my pretty koolaid-dyed yarn:




Isn't it pretty??? I love how it turned out, I think once it's felted it will look really cool, orangey-reds with little sparks of yellow in it. I have 3 skeins (though the third has lots of cuts in it, what you get with thrift store yarns) so I should have more than enough for a great big hat. I think I might start again, I don't think it's quite pointed enough, especially considering it will shrink vertically most. I also think the stitches might be a little tight for felting. No worries, I only just started so it's not a lot to rip out.

I dyed the wool for the hat tonight. It's hanging in my living room drying right now. It looks gorgeous, red, orange, and a little touch of yellow, it looks like fire!! I'm a little concerned that since I handpainted it, the colours wouldn't match up right using two strands so I might have to knit it in one strand. That would take MUCH longer. Does anyone know if using one strand rather than two makes a big difference in felting? I'm going to try and scan the yarn this evening if it's dry to show you the awesome colour :)

Afghan is going well, finished row 105 yesterday, almost 1/3 done!

The afghan is going great guns again! Hopefully I can stop getting ahead of myself in the pattern, since that just leads to me ripping and losing lots of time :(

Still puzzling on the hat. I think I may felt it, just make it bigger than I want and see what happens. It shouldn't take too long to knit up, especially if I do double strands. That seems to help in felting too. I may skip the brim or leave it as is. Someone gave me a good idea of using single crochet around the bottom to make a flat brim, so I may even try that.... I'm also considering kool aid dying the yarn, I have some beige wool that should felt nicely, and it's crying out for kool aid!

Un-progress is being had on the afghan. [sigh] more ripping thank knitting lately it seems. On the plus side, I seem to have mastered the art of ripping out just a small section of cable, and fixing it back up, rather than ripping out full rows to correct an error way back. Since there are over 200stitches in each row, I'm glad I figured this out!!

Another project is in my head, either this HAT or something a little different. Do you think it would felt well? I think it would be hard to make the dimensions right if I was felting, I'd have to make it a lot "taller" since stuff seems to felt most vertically. Also, does anyone have an idea how to make a flat brim instead of the rolled one in the pattern?

Thanks to Ivete for the idea, a list of my knitting projects:

Active Projects:

• Sampler Afghan
  
• Small Secret Gift Item
  
• Bow Tie Scarf (for me!)
  

Set-Aside Projects:

• Confetti socks for me (seeking a reasonable yarn match to finish up the cuffs)
  
• Baby Socks (many pairs for many pregnant friends)
  
• Summer Top (was desigining it for Knitty originally...)
  
• Lacey T-top from freepatterns.com
  

Projects in mind:

• summer tank top for me (maybe a rowan pattern)
  
• wool sweater for sister (xmas)
  
• More socks for me
  
• lime green and blue baby sweater for ? (found the coolest yarn that begs to be a baby boy's sweater)
  
• summery top to design_
  
• knit animals for gifts
  
• felted box idea
  

So I have a lot of projects in mind, and quite a few being knit or temporarily set aside. Still nothing compared to Ivete's list though, so I guess I'm okay!

I found nothing at Michaels yesterday. They were all out of that nifty veregated baby yarn, and didn't have anything else I liked the look of. If I think of anything I *need* I still have the coupon so I can head there on my way home today....

I have been mulling over my knitty idea today, but then I came to a realization. I was trying to think of a project "for knitty" not "for me that would work for knitty" which seems kind of silly. I have so many things I want to work on, and less time than I wish I did, so why waste it making things I'm not totally into? I kind of wanted to submit to Knitty early on, while I figured my chances were better, but I guess it's less important to me than I originally thought. I think I will just go on making what I want, following patterns that already exist, and making up things if I WANT to. If I manage to dream up a pattern or two, I can just post them here or something.

I've thought of a new possible idea for knitty, so I'm puzzling away on that right now. The other item I'd been working on has been set aside for now, adding to my even increasing UFO count. I have SO many things I want to work on, it's hard to stick to only a few. There just aren't enough hours in the day!

I have a 40% off coupon for Michael's so I'm going to stop by there on my way home today. I hope they have the new Vogue Knitting in, I liked the look of that, just not the $8 pricetag. If not I'll probably get another skein of that great bright baby yarn :)

***CRYING***

I've been working away at designing something. Focussing on making the pattern workable, keeping the sizing adjustable with the math, all the things you need to do when you are designing a pattern, because I wanted to submit it to Knitty. I ran out of time for the Spring issue but my idea was fairly summery so I didn't worry, I was going to submit it for the next round. I was finally nearing completion when the current Knitty issue came out. The current issue of Knitty has an item that is extremely close to what I was working on. Actually, it's better, more what I WANTED to do but my limited experience made difficult. My pattern would be too close, it would look like I copied this other designer's great pattern, with a mediocre one that was only slightly different. **sigh** very sad times for me.

So I have set that project aside and just focussed insead on a large afghan I'm working on. I'm really enjoying the afghan pattern, so I'm feeling less sad about knitting now :)