Drama in Rugville

You may remember the rag rug I started for Caleb's room a few weeks ago.

You may also remember that I hinted I'd had some problems along the way.

Well now you get to hear that story, along with the hilarious twist (pun fully intended) this project has taken since then.

~~~

I started crocheting with gusto after hours spent cutting up blankets and sewing the strips together. Seriously. The prep was a lot of work. My thumb was sore from using the scissors and I was ready to see something tangible. So I pulled out my hook and went to work, crocheting the flannel fabric exactly how I *thought* I'd been taught.

Exactly how I'd crocheted in the past.

And, as I would soon find out, exactly wrong.

(Would now be a good time to mention that I have crocheted thick winter scarves doing the same sort of stitch? And they each turned out perfectly?? Sighhhhhh. I guess some things aren't supposed to make sense.)

I got roughly four rows in before I realized my mistake. Not because the rug looked funny, but because I just happened to find a beginner's crochet book at the library. There were detailed instructions for the basic stitches and pictures and before long, I discovered I hadn't crocheted correctly once in my whole life.

Imagine my shock and dismay. Like the rug had just been pulled out from under me. ;)

Oh, I crack myself up.

Anyway, the nice librarian lady copied a couple pages for me (because it was a reference book and could not be checked out) and I tripped merrily home, thanking my lucky stars I was only four rows into the project. How easy would it be to rip them out and start over? This time correctly? I was armed with newly acquired knowledge that included how-to pictures. I couldn't go wrong. Not this time.

Well... yeah.

This time, I'm twelve rows in. That may not sound like a lot until you realize the rug is over five feet long. I feel I should have noticed something was off a lot sooner. Except that I just kept crocheting row after row, blanket after blanket and never thought to stretch the whole thing out to see how it was coming.

Until yesterday. When I decided to take some project-in-progress pictures:

It was then I realized . . . I'm not crocheting a rug.

I'm crocheting a rainbow!

Or as Caleb declared when he arrived home from school:

"C!"

Seriously? Seriously?!?!

*Sigh*

Seriously.

I had a good laugh, friends. A real good laugh. I even called Jason in to have a look.

"Look, honey! See what I made!"

"Um, isn't that supposed to be a rug?"

"Yeah, but now it's a rainbow. I didn't even know I could do that!"

He laughed, too. Then together we tried to puzzle out what had gone wrong.

Best I can figure, I accidentally added a chain at the end of every row. Jason thinks I may have skipped some stitches, too. (Natalie, Tabitha, any ideas ladies? You two know way more about crocheting than I do . . . I'd appreciate any input!)

The real question is, how do I fix it? Assuming I don't want to make a rainbow rug? Assuming I don't want to rip out twelve rows and start all over again, possibly damaging the fabric in the process?

I might try to fill in the part under the rainbow and make a half circle rug instead. But I'm not certain that will work.

Oy ve.

And I had step-by-step instructions with pictures!!!

So what do you think? Is there hope for me, or should I hang up my hook? ;)