Doing things I shouldn't

Of course as a chronic procrastinator I'm always doing things I shouldn't and/or not doing things I should (such a difference!) but this week, more so.  And thanks to an apparent - and hopefully brief - personal energy shortage the Not doing things has outweighed any benefit of the Doing things, so the Shouldn't part is getting me into some trouble.

Stuff I shouldn't do but did

Letting myself run out, months ago, of 2.25mm needles, my standard for socks

Not immediately buying more 2.25mm needles even if it does mean a small fortune in shipping to get the wooden kind I like from KnitPicks

Not giving in to my love of square needle double-pointed sets - they are a little scary sharp for subway knitting and a bit up in the air for matching gauge to that of similarly sized round needles, but excellent in every other way - and just buying a 2.5mm set in it because I've turned out to be one of those people who needs to go up a size to compensate for the change in shape

Waiting till a few days before Christmas to suggest 2.5mm square dpns as a gift idea, at which point they were sold out locally

Losing a critical winter sock just as the temperatures dropped

Casting on replacements for the critical sock using 2.75mm square needles in desperation, and only 56 stitches' worth instead of the more comfy 64 on the assumption the increase in gauge would justify it without also meaning hopelessly loose fabric for a sock

Setting a mental goal (those are killers for me) of finishing the replacement pair in a week, then neglecting them for three days of it

Knitting this far on the first replacement before even bothering to make sure the gauge is okay:

... while thinking the whole time This Won't Work, I Should Rip This Out Now


Stuff I didn't expect to have the sense to do but did

Waiting to measure before ripping out

Turns out I got 7.5 stitches to an inch in the original socks, and I'm getting 7.25 stitches to an inch in these ones.  Even the 56 vs. 64 stitch issue seems to be working out.

I'm pretty comfortable with this.  I'm so glad I kept going.

Of course I still shouldn't be neglecting the two patterns I hoped to release this month, but you can't have everything!