Failure (in the Good Way)

Sometimes a project just doesn't work out. It's rare that this happens to me, but it does now and then. All makers make mistakes. I choose a pattern that is too difficult or for some reason aggravating, the wrong yarn, the wrong type of project, and I don't realize it until I'm a day or two in. I want to show you a very good example of this so you know it happens to everyone.

Here I am checking gauge (see, I'm keeping my latest self-care goals) for this free shrug pattern, which I planned to do on the side while I worked on other things. It looked light and breezy, the pattern seemed like another mindless one-row repeat, I like shrugs and I thought I had the perfect novelty yarn (and the right amount of it) to make it.

This project, however, was wrong in every way.

It took me two days to make this much of the shrug. I am very fast, except when I have to do specialty stitches that require my full attention. This shrug is made of single crochet stitches worked in the back loops -- just that stitch, nothing more but a chain one at the end of the row. That meant I had to watch myself with every stitch so I got in the back loops. Using a K 6.5 mm hook, which the pattern called for, made it hard to manage. Because it was all one stitch it was also totally boring to crochet.

The chunkiness of the back-loop single crochet stitch meant the shrug would not be light and breezy but heavily ribbed and chunky, which I don't care for. I live in the tropics, not the Arctic.

Even the thrifted acrylic novelty yarn I chose to use for the project was a pain. It turned out to be difficult to stitch because of the chunky weight. It also kept shedding these bits of black fiber that gave it the arty look. Shedding is something I really hate.

Life is too short to waste my time making something I dislike with materials that aggravate me. I finally frogged the entire strip, rolled it into a ball and put all three skeins of the yarn in the donation bin. Big relief, even with the loss of all my work. Maybe another maker can do something with the yarn. The pattern I disposed of; it's not something I want to try again with any type of yarn.

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Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Other Stashes

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Store Closing Haul

The mega Books-A-Million store over in Sanford is closing, and offered an extra 20% off on their current stock -- all sales final -- so I went over to do some shopping. Safely but sadly there was no one in the store but me the entire time I was there. The Holly Jackson novel is for Katherine, the Halloween board book is for Oliver, and the copy of Garden Spells is to keep on hand because I give that book to everyone. The rest of the books are for me. I love Anne Cleeves, and the Galbraith novel sounded interesting (the first couple weren't, but I'm willing to take another chance.) The Escape Room is by a new-to-me author, plus it was cheap. The GreenCraft mag is just a guilty pleasure. Hopefully the smaller BAM nearer to me won't close. I don't buy many books from brick-and-mortar stores these days, but that's really the last one within reasonable driving distance.

Valerean

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