Coraline has been really difficult this week too. I spent a really good chunk of time on Sunday trying to knit ONE ROW of the yoke. My stitch count was off, I knit it wrong, my stitch count was off. Finally, finally, around midnight I got it all straightened out. And by "it" I mean one stinking row. Then at knitting on Monday I knit the first row of the smocking. This is a tedious, slow stitch. Place one stitch on a cable needle, slip four stitches, place another stitch on the cable needle, slip the four stitches back, wrap the working yarn around the two stitches, etc. Oy! Takes freaking forever. Then I got to the end--at long last--and I was off my four stitches. I had to rip the whole row out. The row that took me all night to knit. I picked it up last night and--son of a bitch!--I missed smocking one section. I managed to drop down and fix it but it's so tight in the section now. And the sweater is at that stage where it's so damned big and heavy I don't want to carry it around with me.
I've been carrying Smith around but haven't knit on it all since Portland. It's really fiddly and I there's something happening nearly every row that just a little bit different from the previous rows. Also not great for knitting on the go.
So today I picked up a charity hat I started a while ago. And I finished the damned thing. Thank goodness!
It's one skein of Zitron Nimbus. I made up the pattern. There's no buttonhole, just an overlapping band of garter. The button is recycled glass.
Tomorrow we leave again for a little family vacation. I know! Even I am sick of all the traveling at this point. I just want to settle back in at home, clean up the mess and get back to feeling like a productive person. I'll take Coraline and Smith (maybe Damson too?) with me and hope to get something done.
