The Good and The Not So Good

I started and finished one of the BFF's mitts this weekend.  It was, actually, a study in extreme patience.  And, a couple of times there, I was convinced the mitt did not want to be made.  Twice, I crossed the cable the wrong way.  Fortunately, both times, I realized it immediately and was able to go back straight away and rearrange my stitches.  Twice, I dropped a stitch.  The first time, I didn't realize it at first and had to "ladder" it back up a couple of rows and put it back on the needle.  The second time, I saw it was not on the needle as soon as I finished the row so I stuck the cable needle through it to hold it until I got to that spot again, put it back on the working needles, and knit it.  Several times, while working the cables, my needle slid out of the stitches and I had to quick grab them back up again.  When I got to the very end, I somehow had the incorrect number of stitches so I had to fudge it to finish the top.  That didn't matter so much because you can't tell and I didn't drop any stitches.  But one mitt is successfully completed.

After that, I jumped over to Izzy's shawl.  Now that I'm about halfway finished, I sort of think I should trash it and start all over again.  See, the pattern is in Swedish (yes, Swedish) and even though the pattern maker also translated it into English, I seem to have trouble following along.  It's taken me an extraordinarily long time to realize exactly what is going on and how it is all put together.  To be honest, I'm not entirely sure I understand one part of it.  But it's sort of misshapen.  I can fudge it...I can finagle it from here and make it work.  But I sort of think it would be better to just bin it and start over so that I can do it correctly from the start even though that means she'll have to wait even longer for it. I'm still contemplating my options.

At any rate, I do feel a bit accomplished.  It was a good weekend for the yarn...even if it didn't all turn out as it should.