Stitch-Along Wednesday: False Start

Tarot of Durer

Well, here we are with the first WIP post of the New Year - Titch is back at work, the kids are back at school, the house is almost back to normal after the holidays, it's super-frosty and cold outside - must be time to knit, right ?

Well, almost.

I'm waiting for the Lily Go The Lightning Thief MKAL to begin - tomorrow. I shall do the Medium size, for which I am all wound up and have beads galore: 50g of size 6/0 and 50g of size 8/0 clear silver-lined seed beads, which I had for a very reasonable price from Nicola at Chromabeads on eBay, whose service is fast and friendly. Yes, I am afraid I have bought there far more than once now, and thought I should share my good fortune with you.

I know, you're wondering if I have enough. I was too, actually. But 50g of size 6/0 is about 450 beads when the pattern calls for 468, and 50g of size 8/0 is approx. 1400 beads when the pattern calls for 1242. Oh yeah, that's me, living life on the Raggedy Edge again.

At least I have plenty enough yarn - I have 724m of GorgeousKnits 4ply superwash in the colorway 'Mallard', otherwise known as a dark teal that Mini Diva loves. She's also a huge fan of the Percy Jackson books, having read them first on her NintendoDS a few years ago, so there are 2 obvious reasons why I'm doing this MKAL.

While I have been waiting, I thought I would start Tru Wuv (who doesn't love a Princess Bride reference ??)

 using a skein of Violet Green Hand-dyed Merino 2ply, which was undyed and so a nice shade of cream, along with a ton of beads. Here is what happened:

Yeah, looks like a major malfunction to me, too. What it actually is is the remnants of the first two sections after all the beads had been cut out. No, this isn't some super-insane form of steeking gone wrong, this is what happens when you try to tink back and you can't because the centred decreases (I chose to do S3K2P rather than K5tog) had sort of felted in this sticky yarn and were impossible to unstick, separate and generally return to a yarn status. I couldn't even unravel the plain stockinette part.

Swearing ? Oh yes, lots. And lots. 

And then some more.

So I've ordered some nice smooth alpaca and silk Drops Lace, and shall start over. But not immediately - you can imagine the pattern and I circling each other like boxers right after the bell to start the second round has been rung ....

Pop along to Life & Yarn to see what else is being stitched this Wednesday .....