WIP Wednesday

So, I'm still in full gift-making mode here. Most of my time has gone into this little number:

I'm making a broomstick lace scarf for my mother-in-law. She's a beachy lady, so I knew she would like the color. This is Lion Brand Microspun in Turquoise, and yes I apparently am a bit of a masochist. This yarn splits like the dickens, folks. Seriously. I'm getting better with it, but I would absolutely not recommend this to a newer crocheter - you'd get all tied up in knots very quickly. I've had this yarn in my stash for a long time for that very reason, but I really love the drape of it so I finally bit the bullet and used it for this. I'm really glad I did too, I'm loving the way this is coming out. I think it will be a nice light scarf, perfect for wearing in Florida.

I'm also cringing over my red hat still. I spent all spare time on my day off last week knitting it, and I really kicked butt on it and it now measures 8" tall. From mid-needle it looks great:

And I love how the cables look when they are stretched out (my first cables!):

The problem is ... this thing has the worst ladders I have ever personally experienced.

That is one picture of each needle joint. Isn't it horrible?! I shouldn't have kept going when I first noticed them after crossing my cables, but being me I just kept on knitting thinking I could correct it or maybe block it out. Now, I've just given up hope and resolved to frog it and start over - YET AGAIN! I've tried everything - yanking the first and last stitches really tight on each needle, moving the stitches from needle to needle so it's less noticeable (this just caused a diagonal line of ladders - nice), inserting the dpn above the needle, below the needle, etc. I finally asked a fellow knitter at church (one with many more years of experience than me) if she knew of anything else I could do. The only things I hadn't tried yet are 1) using 4 dpns instead of 3 or 2) just using a circular needle and doing the magic ring. Which is what the pattern is written for anyway (grrr). At the time I started it, I thought, "I don't have a size 8 circular, but no big deal since I have pretty much every size of dpns and I'm comfortable with them. I'll just use those." Oh, poor, naive little me. I had never made anything with mostly purls on dpns before and now I am a cautionary tale. I know there are some out there who would just finish it like this and not worry about it, but I know that those ladders would drive me crazy as long as this hat existed and I would never wear it. So, I will be investing in a circular needle for this and trying again.

This hat is lucky I really like it and that I am determined to conquer it - otherwise it would be thrown back into my stash never to see the light of day again, lol.

Any advice for a desperate knitter? Or are purl stitches at dpn joints just a no-go across the board?

So that's what I've been consumed with lately. To see what others are up to, head over to Tami's Amis' Blog and check it out :)