Sour times

Damn it. I remember reading on someone' s blog that they always liked Kim Hargreaves' designs but never her patterns. I didn't realize what they meant until now- Phildar's sleeve and armsyce ratio suck! I've even tried backstitch (ugh) and it didn't work. Then I found myself with scissors trying to take the sleeve from the body of the jumper and cut the yarn.

I won't even tell you the issues that leafy and I have had. We may need counseling. A mediator to give us space so that we can tell each other how we feel. I overshot the chart and did five leaves instead of four, but that was pilot error, and now the sleeves DO NOT slot in neatly. I'm not even looking forward to doing the neck, because instead of picking up and knitting around, I'm doing what the instructions say and knitting the band separately.

Normally, when doing a first knit from an unknown entity - I tend to follow the instructions to a T- because I'm mostly a self taught knitter, and different instructions might teach me something new. Already, I can understand why Phildar wants the band knitted separately and then grafted onto the neck edge, it's to get that sharp cast on edge going on. Oh well, we'll see how it works. I want to wear this baby for Christmas, but we need some space before we go Mr and Mrs Smith on each other's arses.

Oh, the paper underneath my jumper is erm... my nanowrimo work. It's about knitting, blood, guns and a dollop of romance that still makes me scratch my head. How the heck did that get in there? It helps that the guy is cute and Japanese but still... There's a strange scene with a yarn winder and yarn.
Ewww. I am twelve.

So, I'm thinking of knitting up some hand warmers, because I have some Louisa Harding (in pink) in the stash. Or the rainbow coloured Phildar pullover above in its recommended yarn. Because I'm a masochist. But it's just stocking stitch and ribbing, and it has belled sleeves and an open neckline, and it skims the body, and what's the worst that could happen? I rather like that top, it could work with the skirt action or jeans. I could wear it to hot countries and leave my structured jacket at home.

Or should I just do a pair of hand warmers? My fetchings look tatty, and I have some lovely pink dk yarn by Louisa Harding.

Here's hoping that by next week I'll have that bloody jumper on my back. For serious.

Wish us luck.