Metro Headaches and an FO

I'm sure that there are cities with worse public transportation systems. I just can't think of any right now. When Metro screws up they are second to none. Tonight was a prime example.

I caught my usual train but, just before my usual stop they announced that due to smoke on the tracks they couldn't go any further and demanded that we all get off at the Arlington National Cemetery stop. So close and yet so far.

We were promised that shuttle buses were on their way to take us to Pentagon, where I usually grab a bus. It took forever to get out of the station and when we finally did get to street level we found a chaotic crowd (the picture is dark but I think that the chaos comes thru) and NO Buses Anywhere! Hundreds of people were in the same boat as I was and they were stopping random cars in a desperate plea to get home. It was nuts!

Occasionally, over the hour plus that we were stuck, a bus would come thru but they were usually full or they stopped at some random spot and were mobbed. Neither Metro nor the Police sent anyone to help organize and let people know what was going on. It's not the first time that something like this has happened and you'd think they'd have a plan in place to deal with these situations. Nope! Way to go Metro!

And look! There's the news van - arriving just as the crowds disperse and things start getting back to normal. Timing is everything.

Now let's get back to the regularly scheduled FO.

Just as I promised, I have a fresh finished object to share with you today. This is the A-line Dress for a Little Princess.

This was made from a kit that I picked up at Stitches East last month. As I worked on this project, I noted that the yarn was darker in some places than others. I like the effect in the dress and I think that varied tones tend to give a fabric depth. Solids can't help but be flat.

It wasn't until I started the final ball of yarn that I realized why I was seeing the tonal differences in the yarn. Can you see it? The yarn had faded around the ballband! I should've seen it sooner since the yarn was packed in the kit without ballbands. I'm not sure whether I admire the cleverness of the shop in repurposing the faded yarn or whenther I feel gypped. What do you think?

Although I do like the end result quite a lot, I have had a lot of issues with this project. The yarn was one but the pattern left a lot to be desired. I mentioned in an earlier post that it was unclear on how the increases should be done. I found other little problems along the way. For example, it failed to give any measurements. It tells how to do the increases as you knit the skirt and it tells you to increase in the round where you switch to the fun yarn but it doesn't say anythng at all about length. I had to look at other similar patterns (thank you Berroco website) to determine what the overall length ought to be. I figured that for a 1 to 2 year old I needed about 16 or 17 inches from shoulder to hem and based on that I decided that roughly the last 2 inches should be fun fur.

Speaking of the fun fur... what do you think of that. I really wasn't sure if it was cute or tacky but, in the end, I like it. It's really soft and I suspect that, for a very little girl it will be perfect. I think that when it's controlled and used properly it's not awful. It reminds me of these mittens I made last year for Dulaan and how I want a pair for myself. Not in bright pink though, that's a little bit much.