A Fresh Start

After realizing that my husband was having loads of fun in Germany waiting for his flight out, I started to relax. And now that he is getting settled in at his final destination, it seems as though we will be able to talk very regularly online too. So, I'm back to my regularly scheduled ins and outs of life at school. And it feels good.

I started another scarf, even though I'm still not done with the pink cabled one. It's entrelac:


In case you haven't figured it out yet, I like a challenge. This is only my third project ever. I spent about 3 hours trying to figure out how to do the actual pattern. I got the first tier of triangles without a problem, but I was having serious issues figuring out how to attach the second tier correctly. It seems like all the patterns I've found have the instructions "ssk" which means slip slip knit. Turns out I took it too literal. I would slip slip and knit - 3 stitches total-which ended up giving me really wonky results. I couldn't figure it out. I really did try.

Then I just decided to wing it on that part, and knit 2 together-which is what it seemed like I should be doing in the first place, even though it was not what I thought the pattern said. Turns out, ssk means twist the stitches and knit them together! This instruction/abbreviation should seriously be re-examined. The p2tog instruction was clear enough and very straightforward. Why do they have to make the knit side decreases so difficult?

Anyway, now that I have it figured out (for the most part), I find that I have already memorized this pattern, whereas I didn't memorize the cable scarf pattern until several inches into my second ball of yarn.

I am currently on the lookout for hats to go with my 2 scarves in progress. Some patterns that I have my eyes on can be found here and here.

I'm really enjoying the yarn I bought for the entrelac scarf. It's called "I love this yarn!" and it's really cheap, but really soft. Its only about $2.80 for a big ball of yarn, about 350 yards or so. I have a feeling that it might bleed a little bit though, because the tips of my needles are becoming ever so slightly tinted. I actually find that after I've been knitting on my new project for a while, the yarn I use for my pink scarf feels so stiff. It's beginning to make my left hand hurt a little from having to constantly manipulate the stitches into cables. That part gets on my nerves. I'm trying to tell myself that the sooner I finish it the sooner I can really focus on my entrelac. And please don't even mention the ends. I'm thinking that there has to be a better way.

Till next time!