A Work In Progress

When I saw the pattern for a knitting project called "Shipwreck", I really liked it. It was pretty, beachy, and not at all grandma-ish for a shawl. I had a lot of vacation time at the end of May/early June, so I made a journey back to see Ms. Yummy and picked up the yarn for it. I should have been suspicious when the print out of the actual pattern was 8 pages.

I had images of having it almost done by the time I left the Cluster Duck, maybe even leaving it as a thank you gift for M., whose home I had commandeered for the week. So after starting in on the Firefly sweet tea vodka at 10:45 (a.m.) on the first good beach day and things only going downhill from there, I needed a day out of the sun the following day and thought, aha, here I go.

I had to look at a website to try to figure out how to cast on. For a long time. Then I tried -- 9 little delicate stitches in slippery sock yarn over skinny little double-point needles. They fell out. I tried again. They fell out. I tried again. They fell out. I made a noise. My friend, who was reading on the sofa nursing her own sunburn, said, "How's it going?" and I groaned. I tried again. They fell out. Repeat for 2 hours. That's right. 2 hours. I put it away.

I picked it up a few nights later after my friend had gone home and tried it again. They fell out. I tried again. They fell out. Repeat for another hour. Back in the bag, but still feeling optimistic that this is not going to be too hard for me, it's not. Idiots can knit. So can I.

So home from the beach with another week off and I tried again. And they fell off. I put it away.

One night a few weeks later I picked it up again, and to my surprise, the first nine stitches actually stayed on and allowed themselves to be worked through a round of knitting. I was stunned. Then one of the needles twisted and I couldn't tell which end was up. Rip them out, try again. Stubborn little stitches have no interest in staying on the needles now, little brats. I put it away.

A few weeks later, not only did the little impish stitches decide to stay put, they allowed themselves to be knitted in not just one round but several, maybe even five. Then the cat woke up and tried to see what was what, and in jumping up on the ottoman knocked one of the needles out. I put it away.

A few weeks later, the stitches went on. They stayed on. They went through several rounds and I was feeling pretty good about myself. I had made it through the first several rounds and was ready to start a patterned stitch, but at the end of the first round of the pattern I knew I'd made a mistake that I couldn't see and therefore couldn't fix. I put it away.

Then last night, the moon must have been in the right house and the solar flares doing whatever it is they do, because it worked. When I went to bed last night I was 25 rounds in. Perfect little stitches doing exactly what they were supposed to do. I worked on it again this afternoon and seem to have picked up an extra stitch somewhere but I'm going to act like I didn't. Right now it looks like a miniature version of one of the little hats that Muslim men wear.

Would anyone like to lay the line for the over-under bets of when I'll rip it out again?

This lovely pattern is from the very cool knitty.com.