deadlines

I have been working non-stop the last few days on a little bolero for Joan's future daughter-in-law to wear at her wedding. On Friday. Yes, this Friday.  I spotted this sign at a PA Bob Evans Restaurant last weekend and was very tempted, but I draw the line at exclamation points in my artwork. Also, it was $30, which seemed a bit steep for hanging the obvious on my wall.

I have had the yarn for this project since February. I did the swatch in March. Then I proceeded to stew about the construction for the next six months.

With time in obviously short supply, I bit the bullet and cast on last week. Those crystal beads in the bead stringing video were for this project; the edges are cast on as tiny picot-points, with a bead at each tip.

The issue was how to join the body pieces together. The original is knit in one piece, but due to the beaded cast on, that didn't work for me. The bride and groom have used a theme of leaves and trees, to the point that her dress has embossed leaves on it. I finally figured it out: a lace panel of leaves, worked perpendicular to the other pieces so it could be used to join them together while knitting it, with a couple of beads for embellishment. This panel will sit across the bride's shoulders and be the focal point of the bolero.

I finished the lace panel around 2 pm yesterday, and put the finished piece in to soak for blocking. When I pulled it out of the water, however, I found this:

In case you can't see the giant hole and all four dropped stitches, the safety pins I quickly grabbed to hold the stitches in place and keep them from unravelling further highlight the problem well.

The gasp of horror could be heard the next town over, I am sure. It was more like an anguished wail.

I blocked out the piece anyway, so I could get a better look. That reminded me how unhappy I was with the grafted seam in the middle of the back, and the misplaced yarn-overs that were driving me crazy with their unsymmetry, and an off-center bead. I know, you have no idea what I am talking about.

At that point, a good friend happened to call to chat. With that distraction, I started to pick it apart. All of the errors were on the same side, so at least only one part had to be re-knit. By the time we got off the phone 25 minutes later, I was back where I needed to be.

Now to knit it again. And graft it again. And block it again.

Then onto sewing the side seams, and finishing the edges of the sleeves. It has to be done today, because they are all going to to wedding location in the Hudson Valley tomorrow to finish the final preparations. We all know I will get it finished, but why I have to do this to myself every. darn. time. is a question for a different day. I certainly don't have time to think about it at the moment.