Those magical three little words...

No, not "I love you." No, not even "oh well FUXX!" No, that's what I exclaimed after I realized I'd totally missed the three magical little words of WITH SMALLER NEEDLES. As in, "with smaller needles, cast on XXX stitches," then follow lace chart and knit your butt off for half the back of the sweater. damn damn damn. Yes, I have been known to not see those little words until about 3 or 4 inches of the start of a sweater before. Yes, I should probably have LEARNED my damn lesson, but didn't. I didn't realize until after 8 full lace repeats and 12 inches of the back of my silky wool sweater was complete and the pattern said "switch to larger needles." damn damn damn.

Am I the only one that needs all knitting designers and publishers to print those words in really BIG BOLD type and underline it and surround it with asterisks? Even in one of Elizabeth Zimmerman's books, I think it was her Knitting Workshop, she even said NOW PAY ATTENTION and told whatever it was that she wanted to stress. damn. Ah well, I am not a knitter afraid to frog, I've frogged many, many sweaters that weren't working out, or were entirely knitted and finished and didn't work out. But this time I just couldn't do it. I think my standards of anal-knitterly-ness have just gotten a bit less psycho level. I convinced myself that rather than an attractive, slimming waistline that would have been provided had I paid attention to the damn directions isn't really what I wanted. No, I wanted a loose, baggy waistline. Really. I do. I really REALLY do.

damn damn damn