inattention: discuss(t)

I always have a project going that involves lots of mindless knitting. This is the one I take in cars, the one I sit with while watching a movie. This is the one that makes me less fidgety. But sometimes this "mindless" sort of project backfires. And sometimes it backfires in a very big way. Following is a tale of woe. It may be a little too much for you, and you should be advised that this is not for the faint hearted: those who shrink from the sight of yarny entrails stretched across a floor.

It all started so well. I was loving the drape of the tml and the color. The lace stitch pattern is one of my very very favorites.

I was enjoying it so much that it was flying off the needles. I knit on it while working on my Craftsy class and the last patterns from my Y3 eBook. It was my calm knitting when I was uptight, and I loved the way it was draping on my dress mannequin. I was so excited to look forward to a nice light lacy and simple sweater just for me me ME!

When I got back from shooting my Craftsy class in Denver, I pulled my leafy sweater out and finished off one of the sleeves. It was super relaxing after a full week.

I was particularly loving the underarms and the way the raglan sleeves joined into the body.

I picked up the stitches on the other armhole and somehow it seemed tighter than the first sleeve. I knit a little further until I couldn't convince myself any longer that my gauge had changed that much.

It was starting to be a little less relaxing. But I still was deeply in love with the sweater.

I counted stitches on the sleeve. Then I counted them again and again; I had one less motif on the second sleeve. Gah! I thought, disbelievingly. This could not be happening to me!

I still thought I could salvage part of the sweater, and maybe even make it a bonus learning experience like my lace surgery posts here and here. I ripped up to the armholes, because sometimes you have to do that.

That's when it really hit me. It wasn't that I had cast on the wrong number of stitches below the armholes. There were four motifs at the top of the first shoulder.

And three motifs at the top of the second shoulder.

Need I say what ensued? I took a deep breath.

I ripped.

I tried to tell myself I was happy that I didn't have to cast on again.

But I wasn't really that happy.

It went into hibernation.

Sometimes it just doesn't work out, and no amount of chocolate or surgery will help.

I've pulled it out again and I'm looking at it sideways. It hurt me once, you know, but I've gotten over a lot of it.

Knitting gods willing, I will have a nice sweater for Stitches West. I will be lighting a candle. Perhaps several.

And if you've made it this far? You deserve a gratuitous shot of Petunia with her new haircut.

Isn't she cute?