Thursday, October 14, 2010

Never a dull moment

You know that thing knitters do when they're running out of yarn? Knit faster like it's going to go farther that way? Yesterday I started doing the same thing with math. Like:

How long to do this row?

How many rows to each increase?

How many increases?

How far left on the other sleeve?

Okay so - 8 hours today plus 5 hours tomorrow... work in 10 minutes here, 14 minutes there, find a messenger-shaped bag so I can knit while walking from the kitchen to the living room and while checking to see if the water's boiled and going downstairs to shift the laundry from washer to dryer

etc.

And here is what I have learned: when you do that much math, there is no excitement left in knitting. You don't have that magical surprise of Hey! I got the sleeve done so much sooner than I thought! I'll get 6 whole hours of sleep tonight before I have to get going on the second one!

This is why, I am quite sure, I subconsciously messed up the first sleeve of the Carrot cardi yesterday. When I was just about to do the decreases for the raglan opening, I counted my stitches and discovered that I had added a stitch or three somewhere in a much earlier increase. At first I thought I could fake it but I guess my tension was a little different when I worked that sleeve, too. When I did the bulk of the second sleeve perfectly and compared them I realized even after blocking I'd be wearing a sweater that suggested a rutabaga stuffed up one forearm, so I frogged.

I didn't do the math on how many rows I could have knit during the frogging.

I don't remember the math that told me how many hours I have to knit to get back to where I was.

But I am hoping it will stop raining soon, because I have to walk to some appointments today and I could really use that time to knit.

(Reality check: I need to knit about 8 hours today or the sleeves won't be dry enough from blocking to sew to the sweater on Saturday. And I have stuff I have to do and acupuncture to grit my teeth through and I haven't slept much in two days. Think I can hold out? h'mmmmm.)

2 comments:

NessaKnits said...

I'm hearing you. I am knitting a "Wrap with Love" blanket at the moment, cast on the same nummber of stitches with the same brand and ply wool purchased from different shop to the first lot and the knitting is 2 cms wider. AHHHH. It has turned me off a little.

Kathleen Taylor said...

hang in there. I hate tearing out, I always resent where I am in the project as opposed to where I would have been if I hadn't messed up.