Are these ghosts out to get me?

Last night I cast on for my self-patterning ghostie socks (yarn available through KnitPurlGurl on etsy).

*squeals*

I've been SO excited for these socks, and I knit so often for others that I felt I deserved to just indulge and knit something that I really wanted to knit, and knit it for ME, ALL FOR ME.

*Henry happens by the ghostie kit on my side table*

"Oh! Ghosts will be on these socks? Mommy, are you making these for m..."

"NO! They're um, just for Mommy, Sweetie. I'll make you other socks."

"But..."

"Sorry! No ghosts for you."

After Henry was safely tucked away from my yarn in bed, I got out my swift and ball winder and wound the patterning hank of yarn.

I was quite pleased with myself.

Then I got out the pattern.

You need to start the patterning section with a green stripe and I quickly discovered that the first stripe I came to in my ball was orange.

S*%!

It was wound backwards. And I really wanted to pull from the center of the ball, rather than the outside. This meant rewinding the yarn, by hand, back onto the swift in the reverse order, and then winding a fresh ball on the winder.

20 minutes later my back was killing me, but I had my yarn perfectly balled. I happily cast on with the bright orange yarn for the ribbed section of the cuff.

Today at knitting lunch, I picked my cuff back up with much excitement. The colors are just vibrant and beautiful in this yarn. I finished off the orange part and triumphantly cut the yarn to attach the patterning section. I begin to knit.

Once again, I pick that moment to remember to look at the pattern. Prior to the ghosts are 3 stripes of color: green, black and orange. The pattern says that you should get about 2 rows of each color and that means that your gauge is on.

Don't you just love that word: "About."

I knit my green stripe. I begin black prior to getting 2 full rows in, but it's only *about* 2 rows, so we're all good.

I look at the pattern again. Uh oh. "...about 2 rows, give or take a stitch or two."

Crap. I should have read that sooner. I have a lot fewer than 2 stitches where the color turned over to black too soon. Never one to learn a lesson in a real quick-like fashion, I knit on.

I knit the black stripe. Somehow, that one is far too long before I get to the orange. Aaaannnddd once again, the orange is too long before I get to the ghosts. I pray that somehow the ghosts will still match up and knit on. Hope springs eternal, you know.

Right. They don't.

There are eyes everywhere and white body pieces where there shouldn't be any. I'm pretty sure that even ghosts aren't supposed to be quite this disembodied.

Sigh. I pulled back to the orange cuff and have the stitches safely ensconced on stitch holders. I need to change needle sizes. I hoping that on my next attempt the ghosts cooperate, otherwise their lives are about to get a lot more difficult. I do NOT like to rip back my work, and one of them may be sacrificed if things go awry again.

I'm certain their little white bodies are trembling.

If things go well tonight, perhaps I will post a picture of them in progress tomorrow. *narrows eyes in the direction of yarn bag*