So, at some point in the not too distant past, I heard someone (probably in a movie) say something looked a “hot mess”. At the time, I had a hard time thinking I’d work that phrase into my daily vocab. Turns out I was wrong. I attempted this hat:
http://jlyarnworks.blogspot.com/2008/07/hermiones-cable-eyelet-hat.html

It is really pretty and I’m quite sure that if a person can read the pattern and knit, it works out beautifully. I, evidently, cannot read a pattern. I confused this with the other hat I was considering that was worked on circular needles in rows. So about 1/3 of the way in, I realized something was wrong, but wasn’t sure what, so I kept going. Things didn’t look quite right, but since I was feeling negatively towards the alpaca I was using, I thought maybe it was to blame. So, 2/3 of the way in, I thought, hmmm. this isn’t right. This looks a hot mess……..
So, I ripped a couple of rows out of it to see if I could salvage it and figured out what I had done. I had been so excited by my new found continental speed that I had been paying no attention to the pattern and how it was really supposed to look at the beginning and the fact that I should have been working in the round. I pretty much invented my own pattern to decrease at the top and ended up with a hat that any non-knitter would be pleased with. :)
and I felt a strange sense of accomplishment that I ripped and then picked up 110 stitches. This is huge progress for me. :)

Here are a few pictures for you to admire or laugh at depending on your mood.

(5/12/2009 10:20 pm)