… you should probably just put down the knitting and walk away. Last night I did not and this morning I was filled with regret.
After a long day of sorting slippery children’s books and the hundreds of card sets that go with an educational computerized game, I was not altogether sure knitting would feel good. My hands hurt that much. But I met some knitting friends at a Starbucks anyway and we sat outside and chatted and knit for about two hours while the sun went down. It was very good.
I was at the point in this sweater where the sleeves join the body and was confident I could accomplish that in the dimming light. I worked the join row and then three rows more of 262 stitches each before calling it a night. What follows the join is a series of short rows and I had the good sense not to begin those in the dark, particularly as I was not sure I could complete them before it was time to go and did not want to pack it up mid-row.
Something about what I had accomplished, however, nagged at me into the night. By morning I realized I had reserved no stitches for the underarm on the sleeves. On the body, yes, but not the sleeves. Which is a pretty duh move for a knitter of my experience and results in an oddly draped, unwearable garment. Ludicrous, really. And it meant I had knit in vain four rows of 294 stitches (262 + 32 stitches that should not have been knit) during my first solid knitting time in several days. Every one of those 1,176 stitches had to be ripped out.
Today there was an hour and a half long piano lesson to wait through, and an orthodontist visit too. I have done the ripping, set aside 16 stitches on each sleeve and re-knit those four rows. Now to get back to what keeps me from knitting in the first place. Work!
Found the photo of our backyard echinacea on my phone. Hoping it has restorative powers even in photographic form.
