Progress Report:

Dec. 6, 11: 49 - I am an idjit, and therefore must leave the vicinity of the computer if I want my increasing to go properly. Rippit, rippit, rippit. Sigh – curse you, Ravelry, and your distractions!

Dec. 7, 12:37 a.m. – More of an idjit. I need a couple more skeins of the boucle. I should have bought a third ball “just in case” when it was on sale.

Dec. 7, 1:19 a.m. – I think I overreacted. Maybe I didn’t need any more. Ok, I’m fine. Thank god.

Dec. 7, 2:15 a.m. – Now that I’ve secretly consulted Hester on her scarf preferences, I need more yarn. I have to make this thing wider and longer (Thumps head on tabletop). Ok, I’m increasing by 2 stitches to make it exactly 5 inches. Not as wide as she may like, but it will be long enough for her to wrap the thing around her head like a freakin’ turban.

Dec. 7, 3:04 a.m. – Yeah, I had to frog it back the whole way to expand the width of the scarf. And now that bit of yarn is really crappy looking. Cut and move on, say I. At this rate, I will have a billion random yards of Peruvian wool to make “something” weird out of. This is an auspicious start.

Dec. 7, 4:38 a.m. – A day that will live in infamy. I made it pass the increases. Two different times. Now I’m going to bed.

Dec. 7, 3:42 p.m. – Day Two of The Trauma. I realized that I’m knitting an “intermediate” level project. This made me totally proud of myself for about an hour, until I realized that even when knitting scarves, sometimes it’s a good thing to swatch for gauge. Somehow, the scarf is back to being 4 and a half inches wide, which is what the original size called for. Sob And I’ve already knitted up the whole head! I should never have discreetly asked questions about her preferences. That’s just a damned pitfall every time. Rippit, rippit, rippit.

Dec. 7, 3:53 p.m. – You know, considering this is supposed to be a gift of love, there is a lot of hate going on right now. Ok, to be totally fair, I was truly in love with it before I realized that it wasn’t the width it was supposed to be. Maybe when I get to the sheep’s “wool” that’ll change.

Dec. 9, 9:23 p.m. – Today we are calmer. The scarf and we had a battle of wills. We won. Kinda. I frogged it, added 4 more stitches to make the scarf 26 stitches long, just like Hester’s age. (I do that with knitting numbers … they must have meaning!) Then I had to frog it a couple more times for twisted stitches and the like. Stupid tiny yarn shows every mistake…

Dec. 10, 12:24 a.m. – So I’ve reached a very exciting part! I ended the head of the sheep (after forgetting, knitting too far, and having to frog it back yet again) and cast on the wooly fleece part of the scarf. I’m getting nervous as well. I would have been fine except for one person at the yarn store. As I was trying to choose which yarn to use, she said, “Well, since it’s for a child…” and of course I quickly interrupted her and explained who it was for, at which point she gave me this weird look like, you’re making that for an adult? Ugh. That filled me with anxiety. Too late. If Hester thinks it’s childish, she’s a damned good liar and won’t tell me so.

Dec. 10, 12:40 a.m. – So, boucle yarn is a bitch-and-a-half to frog. See, when I bought this yarn I was making a substitution, because they don’t make the wooly-type yarn that the pattern originally called for. However, I went from a worsted weight to a bulky yarn. While when knitted on small needles it looks great (very thick and wool-like), it doesn’t match up well with my aran yarn. So I’m having to cleverly, and discreetly, decrease by one. Because there is no way in hell I am frogging the black yarn again, just to knit it on a size larger needles. No way.

Dec. 10, 2:31 a.m. – I love getting Hester to help me with her own Christmas gift. J Right. So I ended up decreasing by two, but not reducing the needle size any more then it already was – that would have been way too tight. I like that the white sticks out over the black a bit, simply because it looks like a realistic sheep. This will be an extremely warm scarf, as the size 7 needles are knitting the boucle up very tightly. The best thing is that when the wool gets dirty, it will look more natural. Giggle.

Dec. 10, 3:13 p.m. – This scarf is like the bane of my existence. I’m very frustrated with it right now. Very frustrated. I don’t like the way the white wool is sticking out over the black. It pulls the black and looks bad. I also hate it knitted up on size 7 needles because it’s too tight. Even my mother noticed. New idea – k2tog all the way across on size 8 needles. If that’s too tight, then k2tog every other stitch all the way across on size 8 needles. Rippit, rippit.

Dec. 10, 8:43 p.m. – I’ve come to a conclusion. A swatch is always better then just “trying it” several different ways. The scarf is the right width now, and the first ball of yarn is currently air drying from the poor abuse it received in my hands. Onward!

Dec. 11, 11:47 p.m. – Awesome. I just threaded most of my loose pieces of yarn in the scarf to hide the cast-ons, and I’m finding that this method of looping it through the back of the stitches works really well. It’s not a reversible scarf (well, it never was with that sheep face and all) but it’s nice. Yey!

Dec. 12, 6:48 p.m. – As predicted, once I got going on the white portion of the scarf, it went much faster. While this is beautiful yarn, I’m shocked that Vogue Knitting would expect this to be used for children. (Wait… why am I shocked? It’s Vogue.) First off, the yarn is basically WHITE. That’s a no-no where kids are concerned immediately. I always destroyed anything white when I was little. I hated my white Easter dress shoes for that very reason. Secondly, while I’m using a yarn that is very similar to the original called for in the pattern, I’ve noticed that the boucle has a tendency to catch on the rough parts of my fingertips. Not in a bad way, mind you, but the care this scarf requires, like knowing to keep it away from Velcro and zippers, is something an adult is best suited for. And a trustworthy adult at that.

Dec. 13, 1:16 p.m. – Oh, I’m so excited! I made the sheep’s ears today. J I’m not exactly sure how to attach them to the sheep, though, because Vogue Knitting’s instructions are very unclear on that matter. “Attach to head.” Seriously? That’s ok, though, because I’m going to Bloomin Yarn to get an extra ball of yarn, so I’ll simply ask them for assistance in this matter.

Dec. 14, 6:49 p.m. – I really can’t explain why very clearly, but I am currently frogging about half of the scarf. I started the third (newly bought) skein, only to realize that the end of the second skein (the part I had to wash from too much cast-on torture) had been dyed slightly black from being knitted up so much with the black yarn. It also looked like someone had tortured it to death. Fabulous. But that’s only ripping back a couple of rows. Until I realized that the method of just stitching two ends of different balls together instead of the method I was using, leaving a cast-on tail and weaving it in, created a much more natural feel to the knitted yarn. So now I’m bothered by this part way down the scarf at the end of the first ball where I wove the tails in and it feels stiff. You cannot see my pissed off face, but I think you can imagine it. This is why perfectionists should never become knitters. It’s just setting myself up for a lifetime of masochism.

Dec. 15, 9:58 a.m. – Back to where I was at this time yesterday morning – ready to cast on my third skein. But first I have to wash the memory out of some of the skein of yarn, because it has been used a lot recently. Grumble grumble grumble. On the positive side – the sheep’s face is adorable. The vintage button eyes match his wooly coat perfectly. And I love his floppy ears. So does everyone at church. They think he’s fricking adorable too.

Dec. 16, 9:42 p.m. – Wow, this guy is knitting up fast now. Tonight I kept frogging the legs, because I wanted to make them a little longer then the pattern called for – like a real sheep’s legs! Then, of course, I had to make the black parts the same length. Now, I’ve cut and cast off of them and have realized that they are different lengths. I miscounted the rows. We cannot, obviously, leave them that way, so the black parts of the legs are going to be slightly shorter then expected, as I am tinking one leg back a row.

Dec. 16, 10:29 p.m. – Done! Hooray! Now to block it. But just the black parts. Pattern actually tells you not to block it, and the cream color doesn’t appear to need it. But the black yarn is slightly wonky looking (the legs especially, like to twist), so that is being adjusted. But I’m done!

As requested, a conclusion: I was very nervous giving her something handmade, but Hester loved the scarf, and wore it a lot this winter. Yey!