So Have You Ever...

Had a project that drove you NUTS?!

Well I have had a handful in my crafting adventures and the knitting I am currently working on fits the bill.  I have been knitting my DD a cardigan and it started off innocent enough.  Well since then it has been a royal pain in the trouble with a capitol T!

Now the actual pattern is very easy and knitting up quite well but I thought I would "save time" and do a few things differently.  Usually this would not be a problem but that's not the case with this.  First I ended up have to rip out 3 rows of the back for a dropped stitch.  Then I decided to knit the front and back in one piece so I could avoid shoulder seaming.  I got a couple inches of the front left knit while trying to reverse the pattern to knit from the top down instead of bottom up only to realize that I wasn't doing it right.  I decided to start knitting the other side instead but following the pattern (so as to get it right) and then just 3 needle bind off the shoulders, still no seaming.  Seemed brilliant.

Now I have never done a 3 needle bind-off but there are lots of good websites out there and I have learned plenty other things from cyberspace so really how hard can it be?  Well it looked super simple, I diligently followed along and knotted off, cut the thread and started to weave in the end when I realized that my shoulder was unseaming and I was about to drop about a hundred stitches on BOTH the front and back.  Insert major scream here!  I got myself together and began picking up all the stitches while trying not to drop any.  After an eternity I had picked up the appropriate number of stitches and catastrophe was averted.  I soon realized many of my stitches were twisted so I spent forever getting those situated.

Well the third thought was just do the kitchener stitch like when you finish seaming socks.  Again I though genius, shear genius.  I should have known by the way the night had already went that this was not going to go as planned and maybe I should just abandon the project all together, at least for tonight.  But instead I again took the yarn and needle and did the little chant:  knit, purl, purl, knit.  Well I don't know what happened or what I did wrong but it looked like no kitchener stitch I have ever seen.  After spending the next hour undoing the 3 stitches I did I finally accepted defeat and stopped.

The shoulder is still not seamed, or together, or anything for that matter but I am not touching it again for quite some time.  Instead I have started knitting the left front the exact way the pattern called for and when I am ready to seam then I will rip out the 3 inches I did already.

And if that isn't enough already I also thought I would, again making things "easier", knit the finishing edge and buttonholes into the front pieces instead of coming back later and picking up stitches (which I hate doing).  This started off fine until I got to the buttonholes.  Now I looked up how to do a vertical buttonhole and found a few different ways.  I decided to go with the one that appeared to be easiest which was to just use 2 pieces of yarn and stop when I got to the buttonhold, use the second yarn to knit the remaining stitches and then come back together a couple rows later.  This worked well but looked awfully sloppy and I didn't like it so once again I ripped out about 3 rows taking out the buttonhole and just knit the rest without buttonholes.  I haven't completely figured out how to close it but I'm thinking snaps!  Had I thought it out more I could have just crocheted button loops on one side after it was finished and that would have easy as pie but that thought didn't hit me before I started so now the front panels are too wide.

Now perhaps this was just somewhere for me to vent since I am about to throw the cardigan out the window a bit peeved with it right now but I am thinking I am not the only one out there who has had a project from hell!  Would love to hear your stories!!