Smack Down!

I cast on for the new baby blanket last Sunday. The Martina continues to knit like a dream and the pattern is very easy. So easy, in fact, that I got a little cocky during the second pattern repeat and made a mental comment about how easy it was and how I hadn't made any mistakes.

The Knitting Goddess at that point performed a cosmic smack down.

I was coming up on the end of a 195-stitch row and decided to have a little look-see at my knitting. Hmmm...it looks a little weird, just slightly off. So I went back to the beginning of the row and compared it with the pattern. I made a one-stitch mistake at stitch 9. Gar! So I tinked and started again. Fortunately, the yarn is no worse for the wear.

The lesson? Never, ever get cocky about your ability to follow a pattern, no matter how easy you think it is. If you want to read more knitting lessons, visit Margene's blog. Her lessons are in the April 20 and 21 posts.

The blanket is progressing nicely. See?



That's 31 rows and roughly three inches and almost one ball of Martina. I'm not quite getting gauge, so the blanket will be a little smaller than what the pattern says.

The Lace-edged Cardigan sleeve is also progressing. I've only got one more increase row, then it's knitting until it's the right length. Henceforth, I'm going to call the Lace-edged Cardigan "Jenna." That's who it's for and Jenna is a whole lot easier to type than Lace-edged Cardigan.

What's on tap for the remainder of the weekend? The oft-postponed housecleaning and grocery shopping (the larder is getting a bit bare), the usual laundry. Tonight we'll have dinner at our favorite restaurant. I'm hoping that something on the menu will include fiddlehead ferns or morels. And tomorrow will be my first morel hunt. Yum, yum!