etc.

I don’t know what sort of dubious distinction it is that the craft of knitting has one word that captures the essence of “I’ve-screwed-this-up-so-bad-that-there-is-no-other-option-than-to-rip-it-out-and-start-over”. For the uninitiated, in case you haven’t already guessed, “frogging” is that word.

Dubious distinction aside, I like that there’s just the one word for it. Because it makes me feel better to say “I had to frog the bucket hat I knit for four hours on Saturday” rather than “I screwed up the bucket hat so bad that I…” You get the idea. All this is to say that I started the bucket, as promised, and this being my first go at knitting in the round, I made the mistake of not checking that my stitches were all lined up right (with their “butts” hanging down as Debbie Stoller would say) and I knitted the entire brim (about 2 inches of double yarn that gave me tight stiches on small needles, or FOUR HOURS OF WORK) before realizing that it had a nasty twist in it. I was in a bit of a shambles at that point, but I wound up my yarn, put it away, and went to sleep. Not to be defeated by disappointment, on Sunday morning I started again. And it went well! It looks like it should look! I’m about an inch and a half above the brim and I expect to have most of it done by tonight. Pictures forthcoming!

later that day: At first I found it hard to believe the “fly off your needles” claim that this pattern boasts. But look – it’s true! I got most of it done (above the brim) in my lunch hour, and so now I’m off to wrestle double pointed needles to the ground. Send happy thoughts my way.