Knit and the City

You would think I would learn after 37 years, that you can't bend, change, or break people or things to your will. Let's see - I tried to change Kenny - get him to stop lying, gambling, stealing from the cheerleaders, and taking prescription diet pills that made him crazy, and tried to get him to start shaving, go to work on time, show up in court when subpoenaed, wear a suit to court, get rid of the tie with the boy peeing into a bucket on it, and generally, be a nicer person. Hmmm - did any of that work? No, of course not. What I should have done instead of magically trying to change him into another person, was to dump him, and find that person that I was trying to make him be.

And, I've now applied that life lesson to my yarn. Yes, I have been dumping yarn.

First, I originally bought four skeins of Anne in a red, purple, orange, and pink colorway to make Geyl. As you all know, I ended up making Geyl in Koigu. Instead of keeping the Anne, I RETURNED IT. Well, I exchanged it for another color, but the point is, I could have kept that Anne in my stash, but nope - off it went when it didn't do what I told it to.

Then, I went in search of Kersti. I wanted to make the Kersti Pimlico shrug from Knit2Together (sorry no pic - I'm at work, and I can't find a pic online). I hadn't looked at the pattern in awhile, and I just grabbed the book, and went shopping. I assumed that Kersti yarddage was comparable to the KPPPM - but I was so wrong. Kersti is only 107 yards, and the darn shrug calls for 14-15 balls - I liked the shrug, but my like did not add up to $175. But, I had Kersti on the brain, and I tried to come up with a smaller project. Kersti is a DK weight yarn, 5.5 stitches to the inch. I thought I could get 4.5 stitches to the inch, and remake my Razorshell capelet that I had originally knit in Kureyon, and had also succumbed to the moth infestation. So, I bought five skeins, and went home, found the pattern. Oops - it's supposed to be 4 stitches to the inch. I plowed on anyway, and cast on on 10's. You know that I really wanted this to work, because it's a picot cast on - and 324 stitches. But, alas, it looked like crap, and out it came. Not willing to give up on this relationship quite yet, I went down a needle size, and cast on again. I still didn't love the way it looked -

but, I knit on - until I realized, I was knitting a moebius. Unbelievable -

So, I did some soul searching, and dumped the Kersti - it was not a 4 stitch to the inch yarn, it never would be, and I just couldn't make it do what I wanted it to do. Instead of trying to make Kersti into the worsted weight yarn that it's not, I've decided that when the mood strikes me to make another capelet, I'm going to by yarn that's just right for the pattern. It was an easy break-up - no hard feelings. Kersti and I will meet again someday - at 5.5 stitches per inch.