The Book: Week Two

An overview of week one:

1. I rocked the first day. I was so crazy productive (and highly caffeinated) I thought my fingertips might catch on fire. By the end of the day I was beaming. I can SO totally do this. I am a rock star.
2. Day two: I have a great idea, let’s try working from home today since I’m mostly knitting on the “week one” sweater design anyway. NOPE. Day two was more about distractions, laundry, and family. I did get a wee bit of knitting done (and zero writing), but didn’t hit my goal for the day. It’s time to face facts: if I want to get work done, I have to leave the house. Phooey. #ilovebeinghome
3. Day three: I spent a good portion of the day going back and forth with the tech editor on the design I’d already started knitting, only to realize by the end of the day that – in my mad dash for a heroic start on Monday – I had rushed the gauge swatch and didn’t foresee that it was going to change A LOT once it started to become an actual sweater. In my defense, I’m pretty darn consistent with gauge because I knit so regularly. However, this yarn had an unusual texture that didn’t behave the way I expected it to. But did I do more research? No. I cheated with a tiny swatch (something I tell my students never to do, shame on me), and suffered the consequences. After finally reaching the sleeve divide, which – incidentally – was the goal for Tuesday, I had to frog the whole thing and start over. I messed with my spreadsheet so much trying to force the new gauge to work that I would have had to write a completely new pattern. Since I’d already had this design tech edited ($), this was NOT the solution I had hoped for. Most of the yarns for the book have already arrived at my doorstep (more on this soon), and since they’re all mostly the same weight, I wasn’t sure I’d have something I could swap in order to make the original gauge work. BUT I DID. And the trade not only feels right, but I think it was serendipitous. The new yarn feels much more suited to this project, which means the original yarn will get swapped for another one of the book designs. I shall live to fight (knit/write) another day!
4. Day four: It’s my husband’s day off, and I am knitting to make up for two lost days of knitting. Remember the whole “working from home doesn’t work” lesson from day two? Day four reiterated this truth and I will stop arguing with reality starting right now.
5. Day five/six: Ha ha ha ha (I’m laughing to keep from crying). Oh my goodness, friend. I knit the week one sweater – in the new yarn – to the sleeve divide, again, and decided I didn’t like the fabric it was making. I love the design, love the yarn, but they don’t love each other. Even in a pinch, yarn still has a mind of its own. After more than 30 years knitting you’d think this insight would be tattooed to my body. I had a teensy meltdown (I am not a crier, but I shed one big fat tear and then pulled myself together) upon realizing that I am not, in fact, Wonder Woman. I cannot realistically knit all of these sweaters myself, or even most of them, as I had originally hoped. And with that revelation – for the first time in months – I started to breathe again.
6. Day seven: I can do this. I’m going to get there.

Life lesson this week: Stay flexible. And don’t skimp on the swatches, Marie (you know better).

Week two includes cross-country travel to teach my Sweater Whisperer workshop to the lovely knitters of Williamsburg, Virginia. Can I stay on schedule while traveling? Of course I can. (And next week we’ll see if I’m right.)

#ivegotthis

M