Were The White Trousers Such a Good Idea Today?

I have trouble staying clean at the best of times - at some point in my life it became a well established family joke.  Sometimes I bring it on myself though - I'm currently working on this picture using some waxy/water-soluble crayony things.  I discovered yesterday that whilst they are glorious to work with, blending beautifully and creating rich washes of colour when water is added, they also melt with the warmth of your hands as you work.  After the first five minutes and getting black crayon all over my hands, I sat and wrapped each one with a little masking tape jacket.  That helped a bit, but somehow I still managed to get the stuff everywhere by the time I'd finished - luckily, the paper I am working on stayed clean!

Today we visited the local pick-your-own farm - we just cannot resist the fresh sun-warmed strawberries and raspberries, and today we also picked some plump and juicy blackcurrants.  The currants were a tad over-ripe - quite a few burst when touched and I ended up covered in sticky purple juice...even in my shoe somehow!  These are destined for a yummy blackcurrant pie for pudding today...mmmm

While enjoying a brief hiatus from knitting miniature oddities for animation, I thought this little shawlette looked cute and would be nice in some cotton yarn from my stash.  Unfortunately, being a typical Sagittarian, I plunged straight into knitting it without reading the little extra pattern notes on the previous page - does anyone read these? Be honest now!
So I missed the part about casting on very loosely (that should have been written where it said cast on x amount of stitches, especially for people like me who rush headlong into things*...) and only realised my mistake when trying to block the darn thing.  The points aren't pointy enough and there are some annoying puckers.  I will have a go with a steam iron and see if I can beat it into submission....if not, it's back to the beginning and re-knitting it.  Will I never learn?

My trousers are still clean though....

*It was.....I have to learn to read things properly!