10.24.2009

Take THAT, Evil Golden Square of DOOM!

Yes, those are Xs and Os. Yes, it's very cute. Yes, this lovey-dovey square almost killed me.

As I had mentioned in a previous post, the most recent square of the Watt afghan, in this gorgeous golden hay color, originally started as a "Joyful Children" square. After attempting and ripping, swearing, knitting, ripping, yelling, ripping, ad nauseum, I hoisted the white flag and began on the "Hugs and Kisses" square. Things immediately improved...until row, oh, 36, when I became very sleepy and made some silly mistakes. I then tried ripping back a FEW rows, and subsequently remembered why Jake's laptop sweater and Liz's mitts stressed me out so much: you (at least I) cannot rip back multiple rows of braided cables and hope to know where you are when you start up again. The whole thing came out and went to the bottom of the knitting basket for a week.

This week I was smart. I was careful. I only tackled 16 rows per night and made sure to do so only when alert and free of distractions. I was on track to finish Thursday night (leaving Friday for blogged glory-seeking), when I noticed a rather ugly mistake...12 rows prior. I tried to breathe deep and convince myself it was nearly invisible. I passed it to Jake to see if he could find it, and the jerkface pointed it out right away! I promptly stuffed the square in my bag and sent myself to bed.

This afternoon, I was very calm and adult as I went about tinking back through 12 tedious rows of cables. My shoulders were just about to turn to stone by the time I finished, but the sweet relief of the finish line soothed the pain (okay, advil and a beer helped, too!). Before The Great Yarn Spirit could thwart me again, I whipped up the rest of the square and photographed it to document my awesomosity for all to acknowledge. Admittedly, it's not the most technically difficult thing ever; just personally elusive. This square was my Moby Dick. How's that for self-stroking hyperbole????

In the meantime, most of my energy goes toward this, due on Halloween.

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