knitting makes me its bitch... the debaucle of the yarn over cable socks

i have shamed myself. i spoke too soon. these socks have made me their knitting bitch.

ugh, isn't that always how it happens, just when you think you have it all figured out, something like the yarn over cable pattern socks come and slap you in the face. here are some progress pics i took yesterday evening

*check the lovely stitch pattern

this was my first time knitting a short row toe, and that was not the easiest thing i've ever done, but i got through it. knitting the foot of the sock was a breeze, of course, and once i got familiar with the yarn over cable pattern, it was simple enough *even at a repeat of 5 rows* that i had it memorized pretty fast. then i get to the heel. another short row technique, but this wasn't intimidating to me because i have knit short rows before, no problem!!

well, something goes terribly wrong with the heel. the heel flap goes by smoothly, yet when i come to turning the heel i run into all these problems. first of all, the way the pattern is written calls for TONS of stitch markers to remind you where the wrapped stitches are, so you know to pick up the wrap and knit it together with the stitch. so i examine one of the wrapped stitches and come to the conclusion that i don't need all those insulting markers, it's not so hard to differentiate the wrapped stitches from a regular knit or purl stitch! so i go along, knitting without them. to spare you from all the gory details, i'll just say that i frogged that damn heel more than twenty times!!!! then, to make matters worse, i realize that not only did the kyndra monster take my tiny closed box of stitch markers, but managed to open them, and then loose most of them!! nimble little toddler fingers

i know that i understand how to do short rows, that's not the problem. i think most of my mistakes came from simply being distracted. so after a few frogging sessions, i even resigned myself to using the markers i had left and waiting to knit until the monsters were in bed *to avoid all those distractions* problem solved right?!?! of course not!!! somewhere along the line, i discover that i had lost a stitch!!! from 60 to 59!! what happened?!?! i have no idea. i check the knitted fabric.... it definitely did NOT come from the pattern panel, so i start looking for dropped stitches in the stockinette panel.... NOTHING.

so, i'm thinking *with my knitting prowess, i can fix this*. or at least i'll fudge it and no one will ever know but me! so i continue trying to turn that heel, and every time i think i'm just about to finish it with no problems, i'll discover something i can't live with, an uneven number of stitches on one side of the heel or the other *which would create problems later on* or huge, ungodly holes along the turn of the heel that i can't fix no matter how hard i try. so i come to the realization that i'm not going to be able to make this work, at least not to a point where i would be pleased with the sock. and i was even worried about the integrity of the heel, i'm not going to make a sock i'll never wear, or worse, make a sock that i'm totally in love with, despite its faults, only for the heel to wear out in a matter of weeks!

*don't give up yet...... don't loose your patience, you can do this*

so i decide to do something only the most patient and loving knitter would do. i frog the ENTIRE heel and start slooooowly UN-knitting the foot of the sock, searching for stitch #60. if anyone here is unfamiliar with the process of UN-knitting, this involves frogging ONE stitch at a time, and lovingly placing that ONE stitch back on the left needle and going row by row repeating this with EVERY stitch.

and then it happened.

i lost my patience.

there is only so much a knitter can take, after all. and so, i started violently frogging the entire sock. i would stop every 7 or 8 rows to do a stitch count, hoping that stitch #60 would show itself, but apparently i never had a 60th stitch. so now i'm left with a ratty ball of yarn and my needles with NO stitches on them, blatantly showing the world my lack of knitting skills. i couldn't even get past the provisional cast on after that, i was so tired after all that frogging i went straight to bed.....

at least i have learned my lesson here. i have never claimed to be an expert knitter or anything, in fact, i've never even my told myself i'm anything over an intermediate level knitter. but sometimes, even something that seems so straight forward will present obstacles to you, and the universe will humble you in one fell swoop.