It's the Little Things

When I was a child, I remember my mom saying to me, "it's not the big things in life that will drive you crazy. It's all the little stuff." Many years later I can say that she was right. (There mom, I said you were right. Here on the internet where the whole world can see it. Enjoy this moment :)

And this week, it has been the little things that have pushed me the edge of a knitting temper tantrum. It has been these,  the candy wrapper sachets from the book OneSkein.

There will be six in total and each one is meant to accompany a "soap sack" that I made earlier. Each little set is a Christmas gift. This means that a big chunk of my Christmas knitting will be finished and maybe I won't have a panic attack this year as Christmas approaches. (That last bit is probably just wishful thinking. I will find a reason to panic.)

Fresh Lavender

The Soap Sacks went off without a hitch. There is few spots where I missed a yarn over, but nothing to complain or stress about and since they are handmade, there will always be a little designer feature here and there. The sachets were started after and I figured that in total, they should take me about six hours of my knitting life to make. They are small, simple, and straightforward. It's the type of knitting I can take anywhere. It's super portable and doesn't need a lot of my attention. When they are finished, I will fill each with some of this lavender from my friend's garden and six entire gifts will be finished.

This is the theory anyway. And I still think it was a good theory. But, as we all know theory and practice can be two very different things. This simple little additions have been nothing but a nightmare from the first one I cast on the needles. The first three were each cast on three times. That's right, if you do the math that means I did nine Cast On's for three projects. NINE!!!! Apparently I can knit cables, lace, and entralac with relative ease. But these are the thorn in my side, my burden, my knitting nemesis. I've found myself asking, “what the hell is wrong with me?” more then once while working on these. At different times I have, apparently lost the ability to count, forgotten to do eyelets on both sides of the round, I've dropped stitches and not noticed for a really long time relatively speaking, run out of yarn, and while I’m sitting and typing I am realizing that I completely forgot to pick up the empty tea bags I need to stuff the lavender into. I walked right past the tea store and even thought about how nice it would be to stop in for a quick drink. This is where I'm at. My knitting cockiness is being taken down a few notches by a simple little sachet and they are forcing me to pay way more attention to them then I think they deserve.

I'm almost finished the fifth one. I think I've finally figured it out. I may yet reknit the first one, just because I'm not happy with how it looks. Maybe after it's stuffed I'll think it looks better. I am really hoping that these will be finished today. I think I’ll contemplate them over the cup of tea I wanted yesterday. I hope they have empty tea bags in stock.