Cast On, Rip Out, Start Over

We're almost a week in to our October Affection KAL! I was so excited for the start date that I woke up early just to cast on and get some knitting time in before work.

I was rolling along, loving the color and squishy texture of this yarn from Sweet Fiber. Apparently, I wasn't the only one in the house who felt this way.

I woke up to some strange noises in the night on Thursday evening, only to find Pearl had gotten a hold of my project and had her way with the yarn. It's hard to fault a girl for having a nose for good cashmere and wool, but I was pretty upset for a few hours. Really, I should have known better. She has a reputation. I thought throwing a quilt over the project for the evening would be enough protection, but boy was I wrong - she tunneled underneath the quilt and pulled it out, clawing and chewing the whole time. The yarn isn't totally destroyed, and it's not a huge deal to me to have a knot in the skein, but this did help me decide to rip back and start over from the beginning.

(It's a little hard to tell in this photo, but this is the Cinnamon color, and it's a lot more orange than red.)

I say it "helped" me decide, because I had already been considering starting over. I wasn't very happy with the way the M1 increases were working up - the edge of the shawl was very tight (you can see it puckering a bit in the second photo), and if there's one thing I could change about my first Color Affection, it would be the tight top edge. I know the shawl is supposed to be a crescent shape, and a tighter edge helps with that, but I decided to use KFB for my increases. It's looser, but doesn't sacrifice the shape of the shawl. I'm much happier with how this edging is working up.

And the funny thing is, Pearl hasn't paid one bit of attention to this yarn. Look at her up there in that photo, just sleeping away, mere inches from wooly goodness. I suppose it's the cashmere she's after.

I'm just a few rows away from starting the second section of the shawl, which I will use the Sweet Fiber yarn for. I'll just have to make sure I put the project out of Pearl's reach when I go to bed.