Some days, its feels like the knitting gods have conspired against me.  I had a couple of those days earlier this week.  First came a major glitch in my Christmas knitting.  Way back in May, I bought yarn for my niece’s sweater – 5 skeins of Reynolds Soft Sea Wool, to knit Helena.  At the time, the yarn and pattern seemed perfect.  Several months later, not so much.  When I went to wind the yarn to get started, it hit me how light it was.  Very light – no where near the DK weight it claims to be.  A bit of poking around online confirmed my suspicions – its more like a sport or even a fingering weight.  Worse, I realized its not machine washable.  Scrapped the yarn – into the destash pile it goes.  Digging through the stash found nothing else suitable for Helena.  Combined with the growing realization that the pattern was a bit to baby-ish for an almost 4 year old, back to the drawing board I went.  Rather than casting on as planned, I put it aside and went back to focusing on my Crazy Woman socks.  And again with the project fail – the pattern just wasn’t doing it for me.  Too busy for a dark yarn, too fussy to memorize easily, just not right.  Back I ripped.  Haven’t quite decided what to do with the socks, though there’s a Knitspot pattern that may work.

Thankfully, the new Interweave Knits Weekend brought a solution to one of my dilemmas – Wendy Bernard’s Sailor’s Rib Sweater is perfect for my niece.  A simple pullover in worsted weight yarn – meaning that I can use my beloved Cascade 220 Superwash.  I ordered 3 skeins in the handpainted version from Webs, in colorway just right for my favorite girly-girl.   Hopefully, it will be here early this week.  Christmas is how many days away?  Two kids sweaters to knit?  No pressure!  (why I haven’t started my nephew’s sweater is beyond me – I just really want to do my niece’s first and I’m sticking with my plan)

Left with “nothing” on the needles, what’s a knitter to do?  Cast on something simple, quick and incredibly gratifying:

Jared Flood’s Quincy Hat from the Made in Brooklyn book was just the thing to turn things around.  I started this on Thursday night and finished it this morning.  The yarn, Classic Elite Ariosa, a merino/cashmere blend, was heavenly.  The construction – a garter stitch rectangle with I-cord edges, twisted into a moebius and grafted, then crown stitches picked up – was ingenius.  Just what I needed.

I’m off – trying to sneak in a little spinning on this beautiful fall day.