On Taking One's Own Advice

Sheesh. One of the very first things I always tell the new knitters that I teach - hell - one of the gems of knitterly wisdom that I slip into pretty much every class that I teach goes something like this: Don't knit when you're overly tired. Especially, don't try to knit something complicated or new when you're overly tired or frustrated. And really, truly, pretty please - don't try to fix or rip out a mistake late at night. Always, always walk away from the knitting (it's not going to unravel or get any worse when you're not looking) and come back when you are relaxed and well rested, when there is good lighting and nobody is screaming at you to make them a snack. Did I follow my own advice last night? No. And I paid for it.

We had a much more bearable day today that I was expecting. At 4 a.m. when I drifted back off to sleep, I was expecting a day wrought with tears and whining on all parts. Instead, we had a relatively peaceful day at home. Much laundry was washed, and I'm still not completely caught up. One of the first loads dry was the quilt for Julie's bed - I had put it in the wash at 3 a.m. last night when the first round of puking happened. It smelled so bad, I couldn't imagine having to touch it more than once, so in it went. This morning, out it came and it was 95% dry, so I brought it up and hung it on the back of a dining room chair. Julie gravitated toward it immediately, and it became a part of the all-day discussion about how, when, and why Julie threw up last night. Trust me, I was not the party leading this discussion.

I did manage to spot an opportunity, though, and I helped Julie make a tent with her quilt and a couple of dining room chairs. She kept herself and Sophie busy playing camping for the next two hours.



Don't get me wrong - I was pretty tired all day, and still am, but somehow we muddled through, ordered pizza for dinner, and I got my second wind the moment the kids were asleep. Life is much better than expected.

So the knitting machine sat there taunting me. I went back to it and took a new tack from last night - one that I had plenty of time to think about today. It was a calm one, a reasonable one, one recommended by the machine manual, unlike the things I was doing last night in the fog of the wee hours. Guess what - 20 minutes later the sweater was back on the machine all happy-like and five minutes after that I had the back knit up to the underarms. That's the thing that makes all the frustration I went through last night worth the trouble. I now have a sweater back all done and waiting to be blocked.



I really do have to block the thing to make sure that it's the right size before I go and knit all the other pieces. After the scare I had with the gauge last night, I'm not taking any more risks. Not tonight, though. I'm exhausted.