Setback.

Today has not been a very good day in general, and in knitting.

I'm currently working on my first-ever Malabrigo project (a delightful and delicious yarn I'm so excited to try, and the color I bought a few months ago - and yes, am just now getting around to using - is called Azalea. Hello, perfect?). I realized today that I really wish I had used a size or two larger needles for it. I like squishy things, and with the needles I'm using, it's not turning out so squishy. But I'm so close to being done (and really, it's not a big project and I just started it a few days ago) that I'm just going to finish it, but not cut the yarn or tie the end off, and see how I feel about it. If I like it, great, if not, I'll just have to start all over. No biggie. But still. Kinda disappointing.

Then tonight, I finished up a scarf I started (back in December, when I got way over-ambitious about Christmas projects) for my nephew, and realized both that it looks shabby thanks to the number of times I went back and forth between colors, and that I seem to have tightened my gauge halfway through so it's not exactly even as it should be. Which wouldn't be noticeable except for the fact that I decided to switch colors every 15 rows. So, I'm rather bummed about that. He's almost 6, so I doubt he'd really care or notice, but I care and notice. Still have to figure out what I'm going to do about that one.

And last Saturday, I worked hours and hours and stayed up late to finish this blanket project I've had going since November (which also was meant to be a Christmas gift). First of all, I'm not entirely sure that I even like it now that it's done (except now that it's washed and soft, I love the yarn - I always love the after-wash result when I make blankets and things out of Caron Simply Soft. Acrylic it might be, but it sure lives up to its name). It's a circle. Who wants a circle blanket? Sigh. Plus, the worst part is that, as usual for me, the edge (which is all bind-off, obviously, since it's a circle done from the inside out) is too tight. I should have used bigger needles, or something, been more careful about it, but by the time I got to that point I had already been working on it several hours longer than I had originally planned (but I decided to add four extra rows - which isn't a small thing when the rows have almost 600 stitches each), and I just wanted to be DONE. So I did it quickly, and not loosely like I should have, and it kind of curls in. I was hoping it'd relax a bit with the wash, and it did some, but not enough for my liking. So, ridiculous though this is (especially since I was hoping to get it in the mail tomorrow), I'm undoing the edge. All 576 stitches of it. Gah. And then I'll redo it in a larger needle, and hopefully that'll help it a lot. If not, it just wasn't meant to be great, and hopefully the recipients will at least appreciate the gesture.

And people wonder why I don't think I'm very good at knitting. It's because I'm not. Duh.

Back to the never-ending blanket. Sigh.