On Humility

Every so often I get a blinding flash of inspiration to use a particular yarn and pattern together and it works beautifully, exactly like I thought it would in my head.  I knit it in a matter of days, and it's so fun to work on that I can't put it down.  And then the finished product is gorgeous and I am extremely pleased with myself.

This... is not one of those times.  Yet.

The other day, I bought a copy of Ptarmigan, a Jared Flood pattern that I've liked ever since it came out.  I loved the idea of using just a little bit of a luxury yarn to make a next-to-skin garment like a cowl, because I believe that the proper place for cashmere, silk, yak, and other amazing fibers is squished into my face.

I usually change needles with Jared Flood patterns, because I've found that my gauge is consistently off by one needle size.  For Wayfarer, I went up from an 8 to a 9 and got a lovely fabric and the right gauge, so I figured I'd be safe if I sized up for Ptarmigan, too.

Unfortunately, Jared's yarn is a sport-almost-DK weight, and mine is a Ravelry-says-it's-sport-but-I-think-they're-wrong-and-it's-fingering weight.  So, while a DK weight on a size 8 is lovely and would probably make the right fabric, a deceitfully small sport weight is cumbersome to knit and way too airy.  It actually looks pretty good in pictures and in general, but it's a nightmare to knit.

And seeing as this is a skein of coveted Swiss mountain silk/cashmere blend dyed by enchanted gnomes in Canada (actually the human dyers at Handmaiden, but I still suspect there's magic afoot), I really don't want this project to suck.  Which right now, it does.  For some reason it hurts my hands to work on, when it should be exceedingly luxurious and amazing.  So I think I'm going to have to take a deep breath and rip it out, have a minute of poutiness and then try again.  Oh knitting, at least you keep me humble.