Oh, the woes of a new knitter

[sienamystic]

Went to the fiber store today, meaning to pick up something for Cherbear's scarf. I browsed the Manos de Uraguay selection, finding some pretty colors but nothing quite like the shades on the Julia Stiles scarf. Plus, it was a little bit pricy, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy it without knowing if Cher would like the colors. So I wandered a little bit more, and the sales bin turned up a nice hand-dyed wool skein in pretty multicolors - mostly blues and pinks. Since it was only seven bucks, I picked it up. I then passed a section with two display scarves, reached out an exploratory hand, and...fell in love. It was alpaca wool, utterly soft and delicious, and (a little bit) cheaper than the Manos de Uraguay stuff. I picked up two skeins of it in an ever-so-slightly pinky red, and decided to give Cher the option of taking it or waiting until I find a more properly multicolor scarf for her. I know I'd have no problem finding somebody to wear a scarf made from this stuff - I might keep it for myself!

Learning to use the swift and ball-winder was entirely too much fun for one human being to have.

I was knitting away at Persia's tonight, after dinner, and discovered something important - stop knitting when you start to get tired. I had a lovely swatch done, and then got a little headachey and tired, but kept knitting. I proceeded to drop a stitch, and then add a stitch while trying to fix things, and eventually the whole project just went to bollocks. Now the whole scarf is frogged and waiting for me to start it up again when my brain is firing on all cylinders. Sucks, but I'm such a new knitter that I still have to pay really close attention to what I'm doing, or it all goes to hell. Plus, I was using a yarn that was a little trickier than anything I've worked with up till now, so that didn't help matters.