I CAN frog!

This is like true confessions: I did it--ripped out an entire collar and sleeve to resurrect a few misguided stitches at the neck of my sweater. And--since I'm feeling good about it, I definitely did the right thing. I haven't been feeling up to snuff since that move, however; some sort of drag-myself-to-work, drag-myself-to-bed bug has set in pretty hard. I managed to move to the couch last night and work on Susan's entrelac afghan (and watch an episode of "Hawaii Five O"). Thank goodness for mindless drama. Maybe I'll be back to the sweater tonight . . . on the other hand, maybe not.

A first! I got a fave comment on my shetland Alice Starmore tam from an editor (albeit volunteer) at Ravelry. Maybe I should stick with small and stranded. I do have her (Alice's, not the editor's) Mara vest started from years ago--trivia question: where was the Mara vest pattern first published? Clue: you probably have to be as old as I am (and as much of a packrat . . . excuse me, saver) to know this answer:-).

Ah, and before the crud set in, I rewarded myself (for who knows what--the edge of a first semester, the courage to frog?) by starting Stricken. I am in love: they look so good! Why can't big things be as simple?

Is anyone out there? (plaintive sniff)

Frustrations

The sweater I've worked on for so long (and more so these past four months) is done, but I hate it. I noticed that one of the cables leading up to the neck was two rows too long, so I raveled just the few stitches that the cable involves. I carefully knitted them correctly--oh, let's be honest--I tried to be careful but was left with too much yarn here, and not enough there, and it's really hard, at least for me, to pull stitches in a cable and get it right. THEN, I knitted the collar AND it's TOO wide. The angle from the picked-stitches to the top of the band is too sharp and the top of the band looks like an overgrown fungus. This is, of course, a pattern where everything has been knit into everything else and unraveling means unraveling everything: 36 ounces of yarn. I'll take it to the shop for suggestions, but right now I am thinking of sewing steek lines down the front and binding off in I-cord. Argh!

And--Turbo is no more! He grew into a very large, very opinionated Manx, and when my son took him down to the barn this past Wednesday (to work off some opinion and to catch a few mice, which he was good at) something else--perhaps a coon, perhaps something larger--cooled my Turbo's opinionated self forever. I'm lonely at the apartment where I live during the workweek: hubby says that it is good not to have a cat (the litter box was his bone of contention) but I think after years of catlessness I disagree. I would even sacrifice more yarn (maybe the sweater!) to have a warm spot on my bed at night and a comedian to laugh at.