Time for some fun!

Attention residents of Minneapolis: The Fourth of July is over. Please put away your firecrackers and bottlerockets. I was very patient when you started up in early June, but you are starting to make me a wee bit batty, which makes it hard for me to concentrate when I am trying to explain things, like why ripping a five foot hole in Mommy's only set of really NICE sheets is not okay, and no, I can't just put a patch on it.

Okay, on to the business. Here's the swatch(blocked! I'm such a good girl with this one) for Knittybaby's heart blankie. I'm going for 6 inch squares, and it's not quite there. Also, I can't decide whether to do two or four ridges of garter at the top and bottom. My plan, since I hate to seam, is to just go from square to square without casting off. I should end up with just six strips to sew together. So what do you think? Two ridges? Four ridges? I'm leaning towards four.

Now, time for the contest! This is my thank you for all the lovely and supporting comments you have left here in regards to Knittybaby's heart condition. If you're new, go ahead and play too! Because this is also for me to have a little fun, and to celebrate the fact that despite Knittybaby's upcoming surgery, he is growing, strong and happy, and in the end I have faith that this is all going to come out okay! I really liked Chris' comment, that it's not grim, just real. I thought about how true that is. When I think about how my life has gone, so far I've been a pretty lucky girl and aside from the usual ups and downs, we've never encountered a challenge like this. Real? Definitely! But I've decided not to let it feel grim because I know my family will make it through all of this just fine, and a little tougher for it.

So what is your challenge? To share your absolute silliest, most head-smacking knitting mistake ever. I want you to try to top my Anouk story:

For those of you familiar with this pattern, it is supposed to be a pinafore. Obviously, mine didn't end up that way. I knit this one in a panic on the way to Detroit for my niece's baptism. I cast on and everything seemed to be fine until I got to the neckline. All of a sudden the instructions made no sense and didn't match what I was doing. The front seemed too small, the straps too short, and nothing matched up. Since I was in the car, I had no resources and just improvised. I ended up with this Anouk apron. I decided there must be MAJOR pattern errors and gave it to my niece as is. (Babies like aprons right? Although my SIL may have been a little confused by it. In hindsight, it's pretty funny looking.)

When we got home I was determind to figure out what was wrong. The pattern turned out to be fine. The problem? There were no schematics, and I had envisioned a one piece that wrapped around the back, so when I first started out I didn't read too carefully. I completely skimmed over the cast on for "front" and "back" and just took it as "front and back" as in all one piece. You would think I would have figured this out when the instructions got screwy, but nope, I just kept on knitting. Once I got home and had time away from it, I sat and read the pattern again. As I read, it completely dawned on me. It's in TWO pieces. Front and back. Of course. I have since smacked myself in the head a million times over this one because it is so incredibly obvious, but I'm also a lot better at reading my pattern instructions since then!

Your prize? Since there is so much lace knitting going on, and my current level of attention to knitting (maybe 5 minutes aat a time :-) just does not work with lace, I'm passing on the lace knitting to you! Two skeins of Misti Alpaca lace weight in a gorgeous plum color. Perfect for a first lace project! You have until next Friday, July 14th to tell me your biggest "I can't believe I did that" knitting story. The one who can best top (or at least some close to) my Anouk mistake gets the yarn, simple as that! If it's a tough call, I'll call in some other judging help.

The winner will be announced by Monday, July 17th. Be sure to leave your story in the comments line or any later posts, I'll get to them all. I look forward to a few good laughs! Feel free to invite other knitters to come over to play!
Arthur says, "You know you want to fess up!"