It was the best of times and the worst of times....

The best of times - Friday was horrible outside; cold, snowy, very icy and so so so windy (thought that the windows might blow in or something the wind was so strong) but inside it was rockin' awesome. Ed and I hung out all day; watching the Olympics and goofing around - I also knit on my new socks; the Country Socks (a sock from the Folk Sock Knitalong). I know I should have been working on my shrug but I just needed a break and I was finding my concentration skills a little lacking. The DYC Cashsoft I am using for the Country Sock is so freaking soft and amazing. I just want to rub it all over my face. OH MY GOD!!! Soft, so so soft. The sock is beautiful and is knitting up so well; there is a really nice pattern in between the ribbing. Photo on that next time. The best of the best times though was spending the day with Ed; laughing and joking around. He is seriously my best friend and I can be around him 24/7 and not get tired of him. Nick is always telling us how "wierd" we are (you know he is just being a tweenie with the laughing we do and jokes he doesn't understand); we love it!!!! It was such a gift being able to have so much time with Ed; hasn't happened a lot lately because he has been so busy. The worst of times - my Shrug. I was freaking out on Saturday because I couldn't seem to make it look right when I took the provisional cast on off and did the first eight rows. Okay, it is possible that my level of fatigue and the fact that my CFS and Fibromyalgia are rearing their ugly heads (poor or no sleep; pain and swelling) didn't make my cognitive skills their best. So I ripped it back to the original cast on and put it away (oh yes and emailed my trainer Joan 3 times in about 30 minutes!). Because I couldn't knit on the shrug and needed time away to problem solve this LITTLE issue, I figured I would knit on the Country Sock. So then I see a mistake on the sock, oh, about 6" back and I was like "CRAP!" I know I go through this little process/dilemma when I see a booboo (it of course depends how far back it is) . Am I going to fix this? Will anyone really see it? Could I live with it being like this? Why did I have to see it????? And of course the answers to the above are f--- yes I have to fix it, it doesn't matter if anyone sees it, I know it's there, no of course I can't truly live with it and to the last question - aaaaggggghhhh!!!! Take a few deep breaths and accept my fate. When I start taking something back, particularly if there is a lot to take out, my initial reaction is to rip the whole damn thing out and just start over - there is almost a manic quality to it for me; after my initial reaction it is so liberating! That picture of the sock is now just a cuff. Process knitters probably value the lesson in tearing out. Being a product knitter I think about how much time I just lost in having to rip something out. Alright so now I can't knit on the brown Shrug and I have ripped back the sock to the cuff. So what's a girl to do. I decide (partly because I am now freaking out that I have made a mistake on the first Shrug and now I will never get it knit in time and lose out on the Gold Medal - hello??? - I know there are so many life lessons in here but that will have to be another post - I am just venting right now!!!) to start the other Shrug I had intended to do (just not now) and possibly see the errors of my ways. And, I hadn't heard back from Joan and just couldn't move my anxiety along. Oh yes, so on Sunday morning I get an email from Joan that she sprained her ankle and is relatively incapacitated. Even though I am feeling so freaking needy I have to silence the more selfish thoughts I have and be truly compassionate about her injury (the fact that I was still thinking about myself is for another post...you get the drift). So I email Joan back trying not to sound too concerned about my Shrug (ha!) and thinking about how I was going to deal with this further development. This was becoming a worst weekend of Olympic proportions. Fast forward - it is now Sunday night and where am I at? Knitting on the blue shrug (1 full repeat of the lace which took me like forever to get down - my brain is in some cotton ball somewhere), sock still at the cuff and the brown Shrug? I wasn't going to touch it but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Checked for errors on the net and of course there were none (dammit - that meant it was me!) so I had to think about for a while - I tried a couple of creative things and it still didn't feel like it was lining up for me (I had never done mirror knitting with the use of a provisional cast on and knitting in a manner which means your tension has to basically be the same, the same, after a period of time and so that it looks like the whole thing was knit at the same time). So bearing in mind the pattern, the effects of the Yarn Overs and the lace etc. I decided what the heck I might as well try - and guess what? IT WORKED!!! I have knit a few rows and I am thinking that I just needed to be more aware of what I was attaching - I still see very teeny tiny jogs (okay Ed couldn't see them) but when I block, I will make sure that it looks invisible. So I am going to knit like a fool this week and see if I can get both of the Shrugs finished. Could be an interesting week!!!!! P.S. I did email Joan of my encouraging results so she could focus on getting well! I will have to deal with the less savory aspects of my knitting personality at another time - I have to get that Gold Medal!!! GET WELL SOON JOAN! I LOVE YOU!!