A New Challenge

As many of my friends know, I don't knit big or complicated projects. Sure I have knitted a couple of the Cottage Corner sweaters for my cousin's children and a log cabin afghan for myself. But other than that it has been a sock here, a hat or scarf there. Nothing big time. Back in the day when the Knit Wit was my favorite hangout spot in DM. I bought 16 skeins of Lambspride pink. It was the first time I bought more than 5 skeins of anything! I was determined to make my first article of clothing for myself besides a scarfs and hats. Well that was two years ago. Oh I started the Einstein Coat in the The Knit Stitch Inspiration and Instruction by Sally Melville. I knitted up 8 skeins of yarn then it went into the closet - deep, deep into the closet. So a couple of weeks ago I was cleaning this very deep closet (really not so deep) and found the beloved Einstein Coat. I looked and looked at it. Where to start? Why did I stop - was it because it was getting to be warm out and I did not want all of the Lampspride in my lap or was there a mistake? Knowing me, there was a mistake - I tend to abandon projects when I don't know how to fix them. The only problem with this one is that it is much bigger and more time consuming than the smaller projects. I started at one end - of course the wrong end - when I was having to work really hard at picking the right piece of yarn, I knew something was amuck. I know from smaller projects that pulling out a couple of hours of work is hard enough but this was painful...until I turned it around, and started on the other end. This was the first time I had to unravel a project with a bind off. I pulled and pulled, and whined and winded....and then I looked at the pile of the yarn and decided it was for the best...a fresh start. What if I abandoned the project because of major error on my part (most likely) and continued to knit - got slowly to the end and then figured out it was wrong. So I continued, with a smile on my face. I decided to make a new challenge for this project. You can't let 16 skeins of pink lambspride sit in a closet. I decided this time it might be good to make a photocopy of the pattern, journal as I go, take pictures and finish it in time to wear it on Valentine's Day! So I found my project for the knit-along. Let's see where my progress is in a couple of weeks!