Monday, January 29, 2007

The Lost Weekend

Saturday, I woke up with the worst headache I can remember ever having. I occasionally get migraines (about once every 3 months or so), but this was one KILLER! I'll spare you the gory details, and just say Saturday was mostly spent sleeping.
Sunday dawned bright and cheery - I LOVE the sun!!!!! I decided that I needed to get over my fear of lace, and I have some beautiful purple yarn that I bought YEARS ago that I've never found the right project for. There's a really nice, simple-looking lace fichu in "Victorian Lace Today" that I thought I could handle. Yeah, right! Turns out I might just be too stoopid to knit lace.
After casting on twice (took forever to find the right waste yarn). *245* stitches, no less! I finally knit the first 7 rows, and had started the beginning lace portion. I was knitting happily along, on about row 4 (repeating it like, 36 times) when I realized my count was off. Of course, it was off back at the beginning of the row, so I'm in the process of "knitting backwards" - recovering stitches (including the k2tog's) when I realized the reason I was off was because I'd dropped a stitch! I was so frustrated, I threw it across the room! Once I calmed down (but obviously not all the way) I ripped it out, and put the re-wound yarn in the bag until it could learn to behave. This morning, when I woke up, I was regretting ripping it out - was, in fact, berating myself pretty badly, because I WON'T be defeated, and I'll HAVE to do it again - however, after thinking it over, the only thing I could do was rip it and start over again. At least that's what I'm telling myself now. I'll do it again - soon - but I've got gloves, a coat, and a chemo-cap I need to finish.
AND, what's the best way to wrap up knitting needles to mail? I want to send some needles and yarn to Stacie's charity - because I've got more needles than Carter's got tiny little pills, and I WANT Knit Pick Options!!
OK, that's all for now - continue to talk amongst yourselves.

5 comments:

Sheepish Annie said...

Oh, I would have just lost my mind!!! That's a whole lotta ripping. But there is always something nice about a challenge...and I do think that yarn is calling you out!

Sorry about the killer headache. Hope that is a thing of the past!

Julie said...

When you're first getting the hang of a pattern (or, really, any time), you can put in stitch markers every pattern repeat and that way if you screw something up, you only do it once. If the stitch count is off at the end of the repeat, you go back through that single repeat and figure out what went goofy. I'm really glad you're trying lace, though. Once you get the hang of it you'll feel so triumphant.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your comment on my blog -- I'd be happy to help if I can and I always enjoy having new friends! LOL What you described about your lace is how I felt about the stole I just finished. 303 stitches across and after about 6 cast-ons, I finally got the right number of stitches. I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to throw the thing across the room! At the same time I was compelled to keep at it. Have you tried a lifeline? That is the best solution for dealing with dropped stitches. Then you don't lose so many good rows. My email is adamsdebra AT sbcglobal DOT com if you want to vent. :) Sometimes people have trouble getting through -- if that happens just leave me a comment and I'll figure out what's going on. (Too bad I can't throw the computer across the room when it acts up!).

Hope STAR is feeling tip top again!

Bells said...

from one migraine sufferer to another - yep, they suck big time. I always look at them as a time to catch up on sleep, if I can get to sleep. Sometimes even the pillow hurts my head.

I'm desperate to get that Victorian lace book. It's all so beautiful. You're not studid! You're just learning!

debsnm said...

Thanks, all for the encouragement. The farther away I am from the lace "disaster", the better I feel about it. I will probably tackle it again this weekend. About migraines - my mom said she thought it was our body's way of saying we need sleep. I guess, since all I did was sleep! LOL Onward and upward with the lace!!