Rough Start . . . Carraig-Fhada Vest

Oh my let me count the ways I can totally screw up a project and have so many restarts!  Really . . . how can I love knitting so much and yet just be tortured by the knitting trolls!  Last night, I may have won and sent the little buggers back into hiding for a bit!

A wonderful swatch with great tension and all things I love about knitting! This pattern is from Kate Davies Inspired by Islay, called Carraig-Fhada vest, knitted with Buachaille yarn.

I started off great with knitting the full recommended swatch but here lies the first ERROR!  I have a wonderful swatch and I could duplicate sts colors on it to see what I actually really did like and what caught my eye. DID I WRITE THE NEEDLE SIZE DOWN---NOPE-NO-NOT AT ALL!!!!!!! When will I get over this major personal flaw in knitting?  Why is it so hard to write DOWN NEEDLE SIZE 3.5MM?  Oh, I say, to myself all the time, "I will remember what needle size, of course, I will remember your size needle!" Do I remember the needle size . . . not often enough.

Then there was the issue with the twisted sts ribbing . . . too loose, I didn't go down a needle size or two. Which when I got to the colorwork was very loose and floppy. I don't care for that kind of knitting at all my knitting has to have "ganas" which is Spanish for balls meaning it needs to be a bit firm with some substance to the knitted fabric. I frogged and started the twist sts ribbing again on smaller needles and NOPE still didn't like it. I went back to the tried and tested true to the core ol'K2, P2 ribbing on smaller needles and reduced sts.  I am an EZ percentage system fan, I know I can redesign anything and make my knitting work for me. Although I am trying to follow a pattern, I am all about tweaking it to make it mine and to make it work for me! I know I can do these things when I am not screwing up the needle size!

The colorwork and the increase I picked just looked too messy, my knitting was once again just to loose and did not resemble my great swatch at all.  STOP!  What the heck is going on here?  Those dang knitting trolls! I know for a fact these trolls live and run around causing mayhem for us knitters. I imagine trolls rubbing their hands, chatting and grunting with each other and planning their attract when I am not looking. . . they are giggling at all my errors and loving the mayhem they are creating . . . but at last, I won!  I frogged a bit, fixed needle size, fixed increases, and did 2 rounds of colorwork correctly and set my knitting down for the night. Once you get the bothersome knitting trolls under control you need to leave them as they retreat to their den all pissy that they didn't win and can not longer torment the H-E-double-toothpicks out of you!