My very first KAL!

I've joined my VERY first KAL! It's Stranded: The Colorwork Challenge. I'm planning to knit Eunny's Anemoi Mittens with RYC Cashsoft 4 ply in a charcoal grey colour, and a mauve colour. Just bought the yarn from the local LYS. Sorry, don't have any pics to show because by the time I got home, it was way too dark for decent pics. This is also the very first time I'm trying out fair isle. Looking forward to it. Hopefully, by joining the KAL, I'll have some motivation to finish it! It's a pair of mittens, so theoretically, it shouldn't be too time consuming. Um ... I'm setting myself a goal of December 31? It's totally do-able. We'll c.

In other news, remember in the last post I said there was no way I'm frogging Sarcelle? I ended up ripping back a couple rows and then picking the stitches back up. It's all good ... EXCEPT that it's going VERY VERY slowly! It's now taking me about 35 minutes to do a 6 row repeat. At least I've got the pattern down.

Probably start swatching for the Deep V Argyle Vest tonight or tomorrow. I really need to get some work done around here. Been having a bit of personal problems lately, and that's affecting EVERYTHING. School, sleep, knitting, eating ... It's like, I'm hungry, but the smell and thought of food makes me want to throw up! Well, this started BEFORE the "personal problems" started, but it's been a like a week now. Maybe I should go to the doctor's.

Sarcelle oh Sarcelle, why must you treat me so?

Things are NOT going well around this part. Just as I've almost got the pattern repeat memorized, THIS happens:

Yuppers. Those are dropped stitches. On purpose. Because I screwed up. Mistakes in lace knitting = NO FUN! I've already spent hours on those measely little couple inches. I am NOT, I repeat NOT sending it to the frog pond. Besides, it'd be a pain to frog it since the stitches kind of catches on to one another like mohair does. What actually happened was I was missing a stitch on the edge. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I simply decided to increase a stitch. It was right on the edge, and after blocking, shouldn't be noticeable. I put it down last night, and woke up this morning to see that I've screwed up. I had accidentally shifted the pattern one stitch over. It was about 6 rows down so I thought maybe, maybe just perhaps I can dropped the stitches and fix it. It's no fun when you got yos, pfbs, and kfbs. No siree. Not having much luck so far, but I'll look at it a bit later. I really need to get some work done on my research. That's going to be on fun either since I'm trying to program something, and that also requires debuggin. Arg.

On a happier note, look what I got in the mail today! Socks That Rock in Midsummer Night and Rose Quartz. I love handpainted yarns in different colours ... when they are still in a skein. But once you knit it up, the colour's too busy for me. I prefer solids or near solids. Hm, any suggestions what to make with these?

The Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK is for this. Now I just need to wait for my needles to come before I can get started on it! Can't wait!

Walking in a winter wonderland

This is what I woke up to this morning. Days of wiping snow off the car and sitting in a freezing car waiting for it to warm up have started! Also means I will soon be able to try out the new skis and boots I bought earlier in the year! If only it wasn't so cold and didn't have to walk to school ... brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It was only last that week that it was +12 instead of -12 degrees!

So I've finally started Sarcelle. I love the lace pattern! But it's progressing VERY VERY slow. It's taking me average of about 25 minutes to do one repeat. At this rate, it'll take me a good couple years to finish it! Hopefully, it won't remain in the WIP pile forever. Not to mention the additional times I have to fix my mistakes. I still haven't been able to memorize the pattern yet. I'm sure there's a method this madness!