caught up, but just barely

Whew. That was a close one. I finished Clue 3 yesterday, but then counted my stitches and found I was off. Way, way off. I started to try and fix it mistake by mistake, but soon had a mess that looked like this.

I decided it was better just to suck it up and do this.

Then I started all over from the beginning of the clue. Luckily it was only 12 rows.

The problem was that I was trying to watch the Netflix series Orange is the New Black while I was knitting. Though I normally watch and knit at the same time as a matter of course, this series was so engrossing that it completely prevented me from doing that effectively. This may be a good way to rate a show: so good that it prevented knitting.

Whether or not it is an accurate reflection of prison life is beside the point. I suspect that life behind bars is both one thousand times more mind-numbingly boring and one thousand times more randomly scary and dangerous. However, the setting allows the plotlines to reflect on what happens to people when everything they know and love is stripped away, and they are left with nothing but themselves—and it is the worst part of themselves that landed them there in the first place. Piper, the main character, says it best near the end of the series: 

"I'm scared that I'm not myself in here, and I'm scared that I am. Other people aren't the scariest part of prison, Dina, it's coming face-to-face with who you really are. Because once you're behind these walls, there's nowhere to run, even if you could run. The truth catches up with you in here, Dina. And it's the truth that's gonna make you her bitch."

Be forewarned: it is extremely graphic. More graphic than I usually watch in my (admittedly) sheltered life. So graphic that when my mother told me she had watched it, I was temporarily stunned into silence. If that doesn't bother you, or if you can cope with it for the sake of a heck of a good story—actually stories, because Piper's story is just the gateway; it is the other inmates that really grip you—then don't miss this series.

Once I had finished it to the end so it could release its hold on me, I managed to get through Clue 3, all the more quickly because I had already, sort of, worked it once before.

I can finally say that I am fully ready for Clue 4 tomorrow morning!