The Central Park Hoodie-of-Doom

It's my own fault.
I 'measured' the hood, declared it done, and bound off. I added the ribbing, and did a beautiful 1-cord bindoff (starting that twice to get the right tension).

Horrors. The hood was way too small. When it was up - it pulled the rest of the sweater up as well.

There are a couple of things one can do when one finds the project one has worked on for HOURS messed up:

1) Wear the frakkin' thing anyway
2) Weep.
3) Put it in the 'fix' pile (located in the back of the closet, behind the ab-buster machine)
4) Attempt to correct it via non-knitting means (scissors, glue and sewing machines sometimes come into play here. Never underestimate the effectiveness of duct-tape and a staple gun)
5) Weep.
6) Pour yourself some good red wine (the cheap stuff won't work as well) and frog back to the point where you need to start over again.

I've done 1 - 5 many times and have found it to be less than satisfying. I've still got my spouse's sweater to correct (he's wearing it every day... I need to wait until it's warmer).

This time? I've frogged it, and will re-knit it.

Why?

I'm worth it. Really.

I'm worth being proud of my knitting enough to fix this mistake, and to wear it comfortably.

(Of course... we'll see if I feel the same way next week when I'm still working on it!)

Tightening the belt

Back in December, I made a trip to WEBS with some yarnfriends. I bought a boat-load of yarns - good stuff too - with the idea that I'd be able to work on those (mostly stockinette!) projects throughout my PhD work. I enjoy knitting and reading at the same time, and have discovered that when I knit, I read with greater comprehension.

I'm glad I bought the yarn when I did. I had done a few "rent-A-Rev" funerals the week prior, which gave me unbudgeted money to play with. It was wonderful to spend with abandon!

Today is a bit different. Looking at finances in the near future (when we'll have both the daughter and myself in school) and I'm going to need to tighten the belt.

It's not a bad thing. I could dip into retirement savings (and will do so if we can't manage our regular bills) - but after reviewing my spending habits over the last six months, I've discovered that an extraordinary amount of money has been spent on yarn.

Even more has been spent on food and drink in the company of yarn. And yarnfriends. ;-)

Does this mean I'm not going to be able to join folks at SB and CB? Of course not. It does mean that I'm going to limit what I purchase (alas... the days of crepes, cupcakes and Chipotle are over!) for a while.... and that's okay. I'm choosing to spend money on things other than noms, stuff that will hopefully benefit our family long into the future.

As for yarn purchases? I've got a lovely stash that I plan on knitting from over the next few years. If I can get myself to a point where I'm out of yarn... well, bury me. I'll be dead. ;-)