Pomatomus problems & Olympics

At my work, the week we fondly call “Hell week” is over. I survived. Actually, it was much calmer than usual. It’s the week we set aside to do mass enrolling of preschool applicants, scheduling about a dozen parents each half hour to interview. Chaos usually ensues but this year, it was frighteningly quiet. Which means there is still a lot to do to be fully enrolled within a few months before Sept. It may sound like a long while away for some, but for us, summer is never very quiet. The office staff and management staff are busy throughout the summer preparing for a new year.

At the end of each day, I looked forward to coming home and taking up my needles to relax. I’ve been plugging away at the Pomatomus sock. Yes, I’m still on sock one, but I’m now on the home stretch. The first part seemed to go so smoothly and then I hit the gusset. OMG! I must have ripped it out several times. Changing from the all around lace pattern to Chart B (half pattern, half stockinette) proved to be more of a challenge than I thought. I kept ending up with the wrong number of stitches every few rows. I had to “tink”(aka knitting back) so many times. I finally learned my lesson and started counting the pattern stitches after every row. What a bore! It took me 3-4 days to get through the gusset. Then throughout the foot, I again had counting challenges on the pattern and tinked often. For me, I did 2 ½ repeats of the chart pattern and started the toe, but now I find I have some extra number of stitches on one side. I’m going to have to rip back to the start of the toe and redo it. This is just the first sock! I don’t know if I will have the courage to start the other. I have been fighting the need for finishing something, but have succumbed to seek gratification and started a quick hat with chunky yarn so I could satisfy my need to finish something. I saw that the new Summer issue of Knitty is posted. There are many great articles. I especially enjoyed the one of Fiber reactive dyeing. This summer, I want to do some more dyeing with my Procion MX dyes on Cotton. I have been trying to think of what to do with the cotton I dyed in the Spring and ran into a cool hat pattern called Couvercle. I plan to try this pattern this summer, as knitting with wool does not appeal to me in the increasing heat.

I am still trying to decide whether I want to join the Ravelry Olympic Trials knitalong, knitting a new project during the August Olympics or the UFO Olympics knitalong, which is finishing a UFO. I have in mind either to finish a Cotton Sampler Vest from the Leisure Arts booklet Summer Chic or a Cotton Flag Sweater from a Berroco pattern I started several years ago. I doubt either of these will fit me now, but I have invested so much knitting in both of these projects, I just don’t have the heart to rip them out. Stay tuned to “THE DECISION”.