knitting glee

I finally, after deliberating for at least two months, bought this pattern


it's ridiculously easy to download from them. I *heart* PayPal.

the deliberation was mostly over the yarn I wanted to use.
I searched for a picture to show here but couldn't find one - the yarn is an Elann 100% mercerized cotton.

I bought it to make a sweater over a year ago that was really difficult to make. I even had the knitwitch help me with it.
She gave me the nicest compliment when it was finished, she said that the seaming was impeccable. *sigh* :-)
But the sweater never fit well. It wasn't long enough. The sleeves were way to tight at the wrist and up to the elbow. And as beautiful as the design is - I ripped the whole thing out.

It took four hours to unseam, rip, and rewind. Then I thought that maybe I could get the kinks out of the yarn if I soaked and dried the yarn in hanks.

It didn't really work. But doesn't matter anyway, because it's knitting up just fine.

The strangest thing with the yarn substitution is the size/gauge. I first cast on for the XS or S - I can't remember. It's top down and I could tell right away that the neck ribbing was too small. So I ripped and started again in a size L. It seems to be better - but no real way to tell because they don't provide length or width schematics with the pattern.

I also started my moebius cashmere cowl. Five times. Five times I cast on for that thing. I had trouble getting the correct cast on. Then I realized my cable was too long.
The third time I actually had a great deal of knitting done on it and I looked at it and heard my inner knitter say, "This doesn't look right." It looked like two separate pieces were being knit - one side with the yarn over pattern, the other half with stockinette or reverse stockinette, depending on how you looked at it.

I really am not enjoying this project and have said so outloud now several times.

It is so perplexing and impossible to explain to others why it is so perplexing and what it is I'm actually doing (or think I'm doing, or even what I think I should be doing). I think it's all better now, but fear I won't really know until I cast off and take a good look at it. It's very hard to make sense of it while it's curled up on itself on the cable - wrong side? right side? the answer to those questions is "yes."