Yarn Along: Grouchy Edition

Overnight (and over-tired) I was a bit worried that yesterday’s post on the lack of choice in crochet patterns was a bit grumpy. Reading it back today, it’s more positive than I remember feeling, and I think the grumpiness was more related to my own projects.

I’ve WIP’d myself into a corner as I do from time to time, starting so many lovely things that I really don’t know what to do next, then getting grumpy at all the unfinished projects.

Then there’s Christmas making. I always promise myself I won’t do anything, or if I do, it will be small and in good time. I might have actually managed that this year, but I can’t talk about it because it’s not much of a surprise if you tell people in advance!

And to top it all off, my lovely, lovely mittens are going to have to be ripped out and started again. While the 2.2mm hook made the perfect size for my wrist, I really can’t get it onto my hand properly. I kept going for a few more rows, telling myself that I could block it to size afterwards, but once I put the thumbhole in and could barely get my thumb through it, I had to admit defeat. To be fair, the fact that the fabric was so stiff it was practically bullet-proof should also have been a clue – seriously folks, if your mitten can repel shrapnel, your gauge might be too tight. Out they’ll come, and I’ll have another go, maybe with a 3mm this time (yes, they really were that much too small!)

On the plus side, I made most of a quilt top last week, and only an inability to add up meant I didn’t finish it.

[pre-assembly picture to check the dimensions worked. Note to self: an inch is bigger than a centimetre. THIS IS IMPORTANT.]

The working title is ‘A Very Goth Christmas’, and if I could Maths properly, it would all have been from my stash. As it is, I’ve had to buy very little and am pleased with the results so far. Normally I like the patchworking and find the quilting a chore but on this one, I think the quilting is going to be the making of it. Watch this space!

My generally gloominess about my crochet projects has meant I’ve done more reading than usual this week. I used to devour every Pratchett novel as soon as it came out, but as I haven’t been reading much at all lately, I’m a bit behind. Tiffany Aching is a brilliant character, and I love how she’s developed from ‘The Wee Free Men’. I know the book is good because I didn’t want to stop reading when I got off the bus last night, and I wasn’t going to let the fact it was pitch-black stop me. Mobile phones make good torches for reading books while walking down the street. Just so you know.

Joining up with Ginny’s Yarn Along as usual this week, and hopefully other people are having more success on the stitching front than I am!