Being So Well

FRUSTRATING! What should I do with my pretty Mandorla Printed yarn?

I want to knit a cardigan, but I tried two different styles (all my favourite), there will always be one more ball (100g) short no matter how. Last time I’ve been to Spotlight and tried to get more. But staff told me that the yarn is made in Italy and the factory has discontinued making them. It’s no longer possible to put an order now. Then I had to turn to Jessie in Sydney to check out the spotlights shops in two different suburbs. The situation sounds worse, in Queanbeyan shop there are at least some other colour’s yarn left, while there is none in Sydney. I have completely given up. I guess if I keep going ahead with my cardigan plan, there will finally be one sleeve short, and I will end up crying What should I do?

I know it’s not the end of the world, there is always something that we can knit with whatever quantity of yarn, but my good intention and passion for my original plan was screwed up. Of course I know there is always a Plan B, but mind you Plan B has never been the most wanted and the first choice. Who wants to use a fall-back if s/he can use the best?

Believe it or not, I am not a negative person; I even have Plan C, Plan D and Plan E….Actually when I came to the point of thinking about Plan F, I realised how awkward my situation is. You get 100 other options, but none of them is what you want the most It’s absolutely a big lesson that I will learn. I decided that from now on, I will always buy one more ball of yarn than what I thought I will need.

Plan B: buy another two balls of similar colour and weight of yarn, and knit both sleeves with it. Would the cardigan look weird?

Plan C: with current yarn, knit a very tight and short pullover or cardigan with plain pattern. I haven’t seen any of such pattern that I am really happy with.

Plan D: knit a cowl (I have two design of this) and a hat;

Plan E: knit a vest (I have two design of this as well), a hat and a pair of wrist warmer;

Plan F: a Bohemian vest with funny collar and without shaping?

Oh God, help me out:-)

I have finished the knitting of lacy Scarf. It took me almost one month. I was big slow. Half of my energy was spent on knitting a cardigan with another kind of yarn, which was much more exciting and requires more attention. Anyway my attitude toward this scarf was like toying with some old yarn and playing with something unimportant. I didn’t set any time frame for this project. Whenever I felt boring, I picked it up and knitted several rows; a while later when I felt bored again, I put it down and do something else.

That’s why the project has been held up. There was a while I completely forgot it and the work nearly was at a full stop. Actually knitting the main part of this scarf was a bit boring. It’s made of 16 rows’ fairly easy pattern, which needs to be repeated for 16 times. As there is no requirement for shaping, increasing or decreasing on the edges, I knitted and knitted, always feeling sleepy. The yarn I use is a bit old and yucky, and the colour of yarn is pure smoky grey, not cheerful for an ordinary knitter like me at all. The only thing I felt lucky was that I used 5.5mm needles as instructed on the book, which is big enough to make the knitting not too slow.

The pattern of this scarf is from “Knitting in No Times”. The lace pattern is simple yet pretty. But I enjoyed knitting the edging the most. The whole scarf appeared dramatically different after I sew the knitted edging into the place (around the whole four edges of the scarf). It’s like the sticking-out part of dinosaur’s back. But with soft mohair yarn, it gives you no such scary feelings at all but a bit funny texture and a nice vintage look in overall. It’s good to wear it around the neck, and arrange the edgings or corners nicely over the light colour’s plain office shirts or something shimmery like silk blouses or a top with simple and small lace design, or simply wear it on bare shoulders, as grey goes well with anything. I haven’t pressed it yet; I hope with a bit of pressing, the scarf would look even neater and better.