Knittus Interruptus part 2 (Electric Boogaloo)

SO UNFULFILLED.
I really expected a completed lace shawl by the end of the week, ready to take with me to New Hampshire at the end of the month. Alas, no such luck. However, this sudden disruption inspired me to immediately run to the LYS (aka The Fiber Factory) and the kind and understanding Susan and Terry. They sympathized with my plight and pointed me in the right direction.
I had decided to go back to the Craftsy.com Mastering Lace Shawls and have Laura Nelkin show me the way back to the light. I'm sure she would gently show me the error in my ways. I decided to take on the Skywalker shawl, it called for 400 yds of laceweight yarn, I bought 875. HA! Take THAT knitting gods!

Pretty, right? More Alpaca With A Twist...I thought it was a good omen but looking back maybe it's something I should have steered clear of?
Got it home, wound it up, pulled out my Harmony Bamboo size 4 interchangeable needles, snugged into the couch with Laura and got to work. It started out so nicely...

And of course, because it seems I'm not actually suppose to knit a lace shawl, disaster struck.

It was late, 11pm or so, and I had this feeling of awful thirst, seeing I was out of water and hadn't moved in about 3 hours I figured it would probably be a good idea if I moved and hydrated myself for a minute. (Not that any other knitters out there know what I'm talking about...) I filled up my water, walked outside for a minute to enjoy the cool of the evening...such a nice night...came back inside, sat down....

*CRACK*

So of course then I sat there and tried to figure out how I could glue the wooden needle back to the base. Tape? Wonder if there is a yarn shop open? At 11pm? On a Tuesday. Again with the denial. Seriously sat there for 1/2 hour looking dumbly at it, trying to fit the pieces back together.

I don't have a picture of the broken needle. I was just too much for me to bare.

The one nice thing that came from it is that I shot off an email that night to Knit Picks to see about being able to buy just 1 size 4 needle and they replied back the next morning that they were sending me a new set free of charge. Yay Knit Picks!

Since the universe wants to teach me humility and patience, I'll wait for my new needles and focus on packing. (We are moving and the stash situation is worse (better?) than I thought.)

But more on that later.

Knittus Interruptus Pt. 1

Why are the Lace Gods mad at me?
Just tell me what I did and I'll repent! I'll finally get around to spinning that damn alpaca that I bought in New Hampshire 2 years ago...I'll swear off cheap, dull bamboo needles forever I'll even air out my stash...Just tell me what to do!

Why the drama you might ask? Well it all started with my friend Gwarcita (Raverly handle ) asking me to join her in a Mystery Lace KAL on Raverly. Seems innocent enough, no?
"Great!" I thought. "I signed up for that knitting lace shawls class on Craftsy.com MONTHS ago and never got around to doing that...maybe this will launch me into the world of lace that I so badly want to be included in."

Confession: I'm one of those knitters that loves the look of lace but never thought I would have the urge to actually do them. I see things like the above (btw- How freaking awesome and cute is Franklin Habit?!) and my heart says 'yes!' but my mind likes to remind me that I like to do things like drink wine and watch bad teen movies while I knit. I like to pretend that the gaping hole in my sock or the obvious enormity of the sweater I just made is going to 'block out' somehow. I'm not a really 'quality' knitter. I knit for knits sake. So, not really the lace type right? And anyway, where am I ever going to wear a lace shawl? Dang.

So anyway, although I knew I should have stayed away, instead I say an enthusiastic Hell Yes! to this KAL with visions of me on a windy cliff of Dover, gorgeous lacy tendrils whipping around my face.
Or at least I thought maybe I'd learn something along the way.

Oh I learned something alright.

You know you have a problem when you make a stupid mistake again and again and you keep telling yourself that it was the yarn/needles/math/pattern/distraction/etc not you?
Yeah. It's you.
Here's the thing, I had enough yarn when I started, I really did. Called for 400 yds, I had 400 yds! I was trying really hard to be thrifty! To prove the husband wrong- I in fact DID knit from my stash.

It was beautiful. Yummy soft rusty red melt in your hands Alpaca with a Twist. Socrates. Solar Explosion.
Oh. That's a fingering weight not a lace weight you say? Mmmm. Well really, how much could it really matter?

See that teeny tiny little wee pile of sad yarn over to the side there. That's all that's left. Of course the pattern has 10 rows of 12,000 stitches* each and the wee pile just won't cover it. I actually sat there for a full 30 minutes at 11pm at night trying to ignore the wee pile thinking that if I just believed hard enough it would be enough yarn. I kept trying to channel Jesus with the fishes. Honestly.

Told you I had a problem.  It's called DENIAL. And yes, indeed it is not just a river in Egypt.

There's more to my slight with the Deities of Yarn Overs but after reliving the horrors of The Great Knittus Interruptus of June 2012 I really am feeling rather overwrought and it will have to wait for another night.



* slight exaggeration perhaps