Can you say Panic?

After this week, I can. I'm knitting along on my lovely to be felted indoor boots for my Grandmother when I realize that there are only 4 balls of yarn. I need 5. I know this because I used 2 and a bit for the first boot. Thing was, I could have sworn there were 5. I bought 5 expressly because I bollocksed up the project last year and I used 5 per boot then too. So where was the 5th? I looked everywhere. I search the stash, under the table, in my knitting back, under the couch, by my desk, everywhere. No Where To Be Found. Bugger. Oh wait, I did find it one place - in my Ravelry Stash. It's in the there. I don't know about you, but I prefer real yarn to the virtual stuff. Knits up much better. So where was it in reality??? What really worried me was that I'm fairly certain they no longer have this yarn. It was a bargain thing at $1 per 50g ball and I don't remember seeing it the last time I was there. I was sweating bullets. I mean seriously, what do you do with 1 and 3/4 felted indoor boots? This isn't a colour you can match really. Besides, ONE boot tip a different colour? Two and you could call it quirky, but One? That just looks like a disaster.

Found it last night. It was in the bag with the yarn for the second pair of felted boots I'll be doing, of which there are 5 balls. Why look where the yarn should be when you can panic yourself and search the whole house for it? Wouldn't want to make life too easy.

Add my usual pre-trip panic and your picture of my life will be complete.

Ah well, I console myself with the impending visit to the LYS tomorrow morning where I actually have a budget for yarn buying. Spewers are plz2b ignoring my questions about Knit Picks yarn. That's a different budget. Really. I swear. That's the hope Dad is generous at Christmas budget. :D (spoiled? yes. I am. and lovin' every minute of it. Hey, I'm not buying drugs with it you know. Um, yarn isn't a drug, is it?)

I'm seriously enjoying knitting the Rogue. It is just sooooo much fun. But let me give you all some good advice here: when you read something in a knitting book and think to yourself, "oh, what a good idea!", always remember that it is an even better idea to put the good idea into practice. I'm knitting in the round with two circulars. Firstly because I don't like knitting in the round on one and secondly because this has the added benefit of me having to stop and change needles before I begin the side cable panels. This seriously reduces the risk of me blissfully and unknowingly knitting stockinette stitch right through the cables. I am a very tight knitter. I've had people comment that they thought they knit tightly until they saw my knitting. This makes for problems moving stitches around. After spending last night desperately trying to get the stitches off the cable and back onto the needle circulars whilst reminding my fingers that they should never get arthritis, I suddenly remembered that I read somewhere that tight knitters could replace the needle you knit off of with a smaller diameter so that it's easier to get the stitches back on. *headdesks* It took me 42 rounds of 200 stitches to remember that. Well, at least I did remember, and at least it was before I finished the sweater.

Now let us stop and take a moment to extol the virtues of Knit Picks Options. I would not be able to do this with normal needles, but with the Options, I just popped the left hand needles off and put a size smaller on. There was a vast improvement in speed. My fingers decided that they might be able to knit a few more rounds after all. I no longer felt like cutting the stitches open so I could get them on the needle (counter productive, I know, but I was getting desperate). Life in general, was much improved. Seriously. I love my Options and often wonder how knitters of long ago got by without them. I know they did, but their lives were the more difficult for it.

The moral of the whole story being, it's not a good idea to forget a good idea.

As far as finishing in time for Christmas goes, I'm on schedule. I'll finish the second boot this evening and start the second pair this weekend. I'm saving one of the second pair to do in the airplane. Should have that finished by the time I get home. That and a sock too. The sweater doesn't matter, so yay for that. Wonder how many more last min. projects there will be?