Mystery Monday #1

Whimsical Tarot

Well, the SusannaIC Autumn MKAL is finished, and the next MKAL I'm taking part in doesn't start until the New Year - but I still have a Mystery Monday for you, a mystery that perhaps you can solve for me since I am stumped.

Last week my MIL generously frogged and rewound the Oslo Walk Shawl for me, ready to be turned into something beady and sparkly but with way less opportunities for error, which ruled out the Golden Orchids Shawl for the time being.

Shuffling through my queue, favorites and library on Ravelry, to try and find a pattern that I already own for which I also have enough of the frogged Artesano Alpaca 4ply in 'Sweetpea', I came up with Sweet Dreams by BooKnits.

No, the mystery today isn't how or why I made more errors (I haven't made any - yet) but rather, why is the pattern in the state it is ? I've been through my projects, and searched this blog, but I cannot find any record of having made this pattern before - so why does it look like this: 

Yeah, I need practice using my mouse to write with in Paint. 

But you get the idea. Most important for our mystery is (A) which clearly shows that the lines of the pattern have been marked off as each row has been completed. (B) is most likely a tea-stain, since I'm not a huge coffee drinker. (C) is a water stain, and D is some other kind of drink stain.

That's a lot of scars and detritus for a pattern which I haven't made, don't you think ?

So what happened ?

FO Friday: A Tragedy of Errors

Halloween Tarot

It's actually really lucky that I am not a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist, or else this week we'd be talking about unintentional lobotomies and rocket wreckage (this had nothing to do with me, I promise).

It started with the completion of the Oslo Walk Shawl - mine was 77 inches long not fully blocked, and had more of a scarf shape than a crescent:

 

Fortunately my MIL was visiting this week and frogged the whole thing for me, in spite of the additional challenge presented by the alpaca halo and ton of beads. 

And having completed the Autumn MKAL, and commented on the unexpected shape, it turns out the instructions were not as straightforward and clear as I had thought - and followed; so, mine should not have been a 'U' shape but a normal crescent. As it's washed and blocked already, it'll languish in a corner while I struggle with my depression about it.

And if that were not enough, the Heartskull Hat turned out great - if you like the inverted color scheme, which resulted from the pattern chart having the main color in white, and the contrasting color shaded, meaning the skull is colored and the sockets are white; I know, cock-eyed; but the other people who have made this seem to have managed fine. I know, also, you'd think I would have noticed - something was niggling me, but of course it wasn't until I uploaded it to Ravelry and compared it to the other projects that I finally figured out what was wrong.

No problem, I had enough yarn left over to make another one:

Except this time I forgot to upsize the needles after the ribbing to make the body - so the hat is much smaller. It will still fit the intended recipient, but that's not really the point.

I had been planning to make the Golden Orchids Shawl, but as it's rated medium-difficult, I may have to restrict myself to a garter-stitch washcloth or scarf .... except I'd rather poke my eyes out than make those.