Driving me round the bend

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I’ve been doing this blog for 62 days, and last night was the first time that I have ever been sorry.
The point of the shawatch (Jon named it that in the comments yesterday…I like it because it sounds like “sasquatch “) has been knit and tinked back more times than I can possibly tell you. I have:
-knit beyond the point and put the shaping off to the left.
-fallen short of the point and and put the shaping of to the right
-misidentified the centre stitch several times, thus putting the centre shaping in mindbogglingly odd places.
-generally screwed up in ways that are too stupid to admit in a public forum.
As I sat last night, practically weeping with the frustration of it all, Joe said several things that made me think.
I don’t know why you think you like knitting. I just looked at him. I love knitting. I don’t know what could have possibly led him to think that I’m not enjoying myself. The cursing? The crying? The 14 sheets of shredded graph paper?
Maybe you are tired, why don’t you give up, and try again tomorrow ? Straight off….Give up? Your local Yarn harlot does not give up. Never say die. Especially, do not say die if you are going to have to admit it to your blog readers in the morning. What would I post? I can’t face everybody and tell you all of my abject failure to count. No way. I’m accountable to the blog.
I stayed up, I fought on.
roundthebend
Score…Shawatch 0. Stephanie 1.
Take that.

32 thoughts on “Driving me round the bend”

  1. Beautiful! Way to go. And I’m really glad that you write this blog. I love it — it makes me laugh and inspires me.

  2. Usually when I’m designing while knitting a project, it’s a bit like making bread. It has to be set aside in a special basket for awhile to let the “yeast” of inspiration work through it. I have a lot of baskets….

  3. Glorious. I am in awe.
    (Your Joe is a treasure, btw. It’s nice having people to tell us these things (Hi, D!) even though we must of course proceed to ignore them. 😉 )

  4. It’s perfect !
    What was he thinking ? Give up ! I don’t think so.It’s all part of the fun,the passion.

  6. Beautiful turning point. Well worth all the cursing and sweating, but you should take a break before crying, I am sure the other readers would understand that, I certainly do.

  8. I love the shawatch. The point is perfect. Wanna trade it for your name in my will as the receiver of my orphaned yarn????????
    The yarn pig idea has grown. My husband informs me that I am not just a yarn pig, I am also a book pig, especially a yarn book pig. Just because I cannot be trusted to go the Needle Arts Books website. Ordering 4 books at a time is not excessive is it???????
    Barb

  9. It’s absolutely beautiful. And worth the cursing and tears (easy for me to say, eh?).
    Even when you’re admitting to struggles, your blog is the most entertaining moment of my day.

  10. Thanks for the compliments y’all. …and Barb? Buying four books at once is not excessive. It’s what you call “A good start”.

  12. Wow!! I am nowhere near ready to knit up something like that (my feather and fan shawl is kicking my tukas), but you have done a wonderful job. And I have to agree with others, reading your blog is one of the highlights of my day, I still get a chuckle when I think about that poor scarf and those woll-pig comments being thrown about…sounds like my house. I feel your pain. 😀

  13. Ah, Steph: chic, branchee, formidable!
    As one whose middle name is “wing it”, I stand in awe of your lovely knitting.
    JohnnyBoy seems to inhabit the same camp as Joe.
    He says, “You’re always mumbling ‘almost done, almost done’, and IMMEDIATELY after, you’re on something new.”
    I can’t possibly explain.
    Gotta go finish sleeve two so I can start winding for this blue/green thing I’ve been thinking about.
    Then maybe the giant Brandon Mably jacket in the new Vogue…

  14. Its spectacular! I too love reading your blog but don’t let us stress you out. We’re here cheering for you even when you don’t turn the corner in one day!

  16. It’s beautiful! We all have those moments… hang in there!! Usually you get the most frustrated right as you’re on the brink of learning something new and making progress!

  18. That’s fabulous. Congratulations. I’m excited to see the whole thing. Out of curiosity, what are you planning on wearing it with? I’ve had a difficult time wearing my red one. I will still knit more, that’s not the point, but I’d like to know how other women are wearing their lace masterpeices.
    I also LOVE your blog. Yours is the only one that more often than not makes me laugh out loud. I’ve been reading since Ken’s birthday. I didn’t realize you were new, like me.

  19. Absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. Bien fait. You can tell Joe you’re making it so that he can be seen with you in it: an act of true love. All that reflected glory for him to bask in.

  20. it’s fabulous. i spill things though, and could never wear it without worry. can you make me one with koigu? 😉

  24. Hooray. You did it. You “turned the corner”. It will be all downhill from here.

  27. Why is it that husbands will play basketball (including cursing and crying) and they love it but if I choose to curse out my knitting in his presence he thinks I don’t like knitting? I don’t like it, I love it. My hubby makes me cry and curse sometimes but he never doubts my devotion to him!
    I went out and bought KnitLit Too and it’s wonderful!

  28. Wow, that is really beautiful. Congratulations on conquering the beast! You know, I sometimes knit at work when it’s slow, and one day my supervisor said to me “I thought knitting was supposed to be calming, relaxing. You’re so tense about it all the time.” Ha, they should only know how frustrating AND relaxing it could be.

  29. *throwing in her two cents*
    Lovvvvvely. That point looks like positively perfect. I agree with all the others who’ve said it, don’t feel pressure from us, we’ve all been in frustrating knitting/craft situations, so you know we’d all sympathize rather than berate anyone who finds herself in one of those situations. We’re all very proud that you fought through it. 🙂

  31. Just as another side note… I realized I hadn’t been reading from the beginning of Yarn Harlot and I happened to stumble across a certain Top 10 list of why the blog was created:
    “3. I make mistakes, tons of them. If I can save just one knitter from the tragedy of knitting error…well, My loss should be someone’s gain.”
    So if nothing else, you’re fulfilling your number 3 reason, and hopefully it WILL help someone else with a future shawatch project. 🙂

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