UGH!

So I realized the other day that the month of November has just zipped past us and I need to get my behind in gear and finish up some of these Christmas gifts I'm making. I've started working on a gift that I can't really discuss at the moment in detail, but let's just say it's the most difficult thing I've ever done.

It's a lace knit piece that's being knit with a hand-dyed and hand-spun silk that's just unbelievable to work with. It's lovely in your hand but it's very fine and knots easily. Let's just say that I've given up working on untangling knots. Now, I just cut them out. I know from reading about this particular pattern that the beginning of it is treacherous because you knit from the longest side up. And you cast on 375 of the tiniest, thinnest stitches ever! So I worked on it during the entire afternoon yesterday. I cast on 375 stitches and was working my first row when tragedy struck.

My piece-of-crap knitting needles feature a cord with interchangeable needles that screw onto the ends. And if you don't keep checking to make sure they are screwed in, they come UNSCREWED and your needle falls apart in the middle of a row of something you've already done. Yes, well, this happened. And about 50 stitches fell off the needles and I freaked out, got upset and threw the entire thing across the room. I was still mad, more upset than anything, so I threw the book across the room too. The dogs are a little scared; I'm crying and LSU is losing.

So I got up, took 2 deep breaths (OK, maybe 10), petted the dogs to calm down and finally picked up the knitting to try and fix the piece. I had to rip out more than an hours worth of work and start from there. Keep in mind that when I had flipped out, I had been working for about 4 hours and was not even remotely close to finishing the second row. The project has 170 rows. I think at that rate, I'll be finished for Christmas in 2010.

Alas, I've gotten through the difficult time (well, at least the first one). I've completed 7 rows now and my opinion of its difficulty doesn't change. At this point the only thing getting me through is the thought of the recipient's pure joy when they see how I have toiled specifically for them. Because when I saw this pattern, I thought immediately of them. So away I toil...