3rd Time's A Charm

I've begun those blasted Neopolitan socks 3 times now. The first time I got out my precious new Lantern Moon sock needles and was feeling so smug about how wonderful these socks would be. About 4 inches into them I realized that they were HUGE. Hmmm...guess I should have read the yarn label first. This yarn is much thicker than my standard sock yarn. So I began again, this time using my Lantern Moon needles and knitting socks for DK weight yarn. About 4 inches in it became quite clear that these socks would be too small. It's as if I'm knitting for the 3 bears. And it was around this time that I broke one of my precious new size 1 needles. I don't need 5 needles, so technically it's ok that I only have 4 left, but.....

I decided to take a moment and regroup. And actually pay attention to the suggestions on the yarn label and my sock directions. I tend to do this a lot. I skim directions and then later regret not actually reading all of the important words carefully. And then I began the socks for the 3rd time. Casting on the appropriate number of stitches for DK weight yarn and using my ugly old size 2 metal needles. It seems to be working fine now. I did have a brief moment when I contemplated purchasing some wonderful size 2 hand carved Lantern Moon sock needles. But that would make this a $67 pair of socks and even I can see how unreasonable that would be.

Speaking of skimming, I've had a similar experience with Cinderella. I tried multiple times to figure out how to get the skirt onto "sad" Cinderella, after stuffing and stitching up the bodice. 3 times. After reading all of the words very carefully I realized that I need to sew both "sad" and "happy" Cinderella together, end to end, and then sew the skirts on. Duh. When I lamented to my friend Cori, a non-knitter, she commented "of course you sew them together! How else would you do it?" Fine. Here is what has happened to "sad" Cinderella #1:

On the other hand, I am nearly done with "sad" Cinderella's skirt and have started on the ball gown.











And in case you are wondering, I have on more than one occasion called my husband from the car, shrieking "I can't find this place!! You have to help me! I know I should have printed out the directions--this is NOT the time for an I-told-you-so...."