Thursday, December 8, 2011

Hard at Work

Every Christmas, I always take on more projects than I could ever accomplish...but if I even get half of what I want to make finished then I will be happy.  Last weekend I made a trip to the local yarn shop to buy supplies for a couple shawls.  I walked out with a load of yarn from the "sale" table, all $4.00 per skein.


On the table, the Elise Shawl and the Sweet Pea Shawl.  Still unsure who will received these.  The Elise Shawl is almost complete, maybe 6 to 8 more rows.  I have been working on it since Sunday. Last night I felt bored with that pattern so, figured I would change things up and start on the Sweet Pea Shawl. 

What a disaster!  I sat down and started the 202 foundation chains...around 160 I lost count.  After recounting and re-reading the pattern I was ready to start on the first row. 

The first row on the foundation chain is always the most tedious.  All the counting and looking for the tiny back loop to insert your hook and nothing to really hold on to, it is very time consuming.  At the end of the first row, in what seemed to take hours, I noticed I had extra foundation chains.  Hmm, I must of (re)counted the foundation chain wrong.  I started on the second row and got three quarters of the way across, when I discovered a mistake on the first row.  The only way to fix it...to undo everything all the way back to the mistake.

Take two.  Trying to be more careful, I take even more time completing the first row.  Start on the second row.  Halfway across....another mistake found on the first row.

Deep breath.....count to ten.....scream a little out loud.

Take three.  This time I paid all of my attention to crocheting the row.  I blocked out the TV, my husband, my cat trying to love on my elbow and my dog asking to go outside.  This row was going to get done, even if took me till 3 in the morning.  At the end of the row I had to add back the "extra" foundation chains.  I also looked very carefully at the row to make sure there weren't any mistakes....it was perfect.  After re-crocheting the first row so many times I was exhausted.  I made it through row two and half of row three when I set it down for the night.