Lessons I'm way to slow learning. This one is called Insurance!

You may be wondering whats up with that odd little pink bit coming off this rather striking blue number (The Victorian Lace Baby Shrug in Cascade 220 Blue Velvet). Is that some sort of oddity? Is this a color change? No my friends not even close. As a matter of fact that is my insurance.

This is a lovely lace pattern. Which translates to exquisitely lovely intricate yarn pattern made by profuse amounts of swearing that is blocked by the tears of the maker. Every single even row is completely different including yarn overs, ssk, slik2togpsso etc. Its magical, its a challenge, it takes a lot of thought, and its going to be beautiful. I was all sorts of upbeat after finally getting through 2 1/2 inches of k2p2 ribbing in lightweight yarn which takes FOREVER mind you. Now I was getting into the knitty gritty, all ready to get fancy and such.

Needless to say I got cocky. 9 rows into the pattern I had zero issues. I was giving myself a little pat on the back thinking I was pretty awesome. Of course that means I screwed up on Row 10 when I managed to forget that I was doing a YO before a k2tog, I did that a few times before realizing I screwed up. So of course I have to frog back down to the first pattern row because backing up on lace stitching sucks more than a black hole. I kid you know, I couldn't get past the 4th row. It literally took me 2 episodes of Supernatural to FINALLY get back on track. Meanwhile I was swearing, near tears, cursing weddings and my complete lack of time management, etc etc. I finally went back to the last of the cuff and obsessively watched the pattern, double checking every stitch and managed to get back to row 10. I danced in my seat, I crowed, it was a delicious thing!

I recall reading somewhere about a wee practice that will save you time, heartache, and sanity. You take a little slippery yarn and thread it through your last row that you are certain is correct. That way if you have to Kermit patternicide you aren't losing the entire thing. So Yay for waste yarn insurance!

Go me! Okay maybe now I'll smarten up and do swatches. Stupid math, stupid need to  be exact, stupid me for not doing it to start with *grumble grumble grumble*