I have readers?

Wow. People actually read the blog. Thanks for all your great comments, Lisa.

I don't remember where I first learned about the lifeline, but it is just that. It's kind of tedious to put in (I haven't put one in yet on Snowdrop) but when you hit the disaster you can't fix, it will save the project. I've read that some people use dental floss - anything small enough and slippery enough to easily thread through your stitches on the needle (or on the cable, if you're using a circular - the easiest way to do it). I used some 8/4 cotton warp yarn because I happened to have a whole spool of it from my weaving attempts. It worked pretty well too.

The shawl yarn is wonderful, and I don't know if I ever said what it is. It's Silky Alpaca Lace by Classic Elite. I got this from Patternworks. I've never knit with laceweight yarn before, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I can tell you this yarn is luscious. It's silky soft, and very easy to knit with.

Thanks for the encouragement on 'doing things my way.' I think, really, I'm kind of lucky that I have such problems with published patterns, because that's what spurred me on to start trying my own things, and trusting my own creative impulses. And I think this is the most fun I've ever had with a project, planning it out myself, being able to choose so many of the creative aspects of how it will turn out - the pattern, the edgings, the type of neckline, the length of the sleeves, everything. And hopefully what I learn from this will allow me to, if I ever find a published pattern I'm just dying to make, adapt it to work for me.

Doing my own designs has always been both my dream and my downfall, because with past hobbies I've tried to dive into my own designs too quickly, before I'd learned the necessary skills. That would end up frustrating me to the point where in some cases I gave up the hobby in question.

Knitting's different ... I took it more slowly, learned some of the skills I need, got frustrated for an entirely different reason (problems with published patterns), and now know I can learn any other skills I need to finally branch out into at least semi-designing my own stuff. (Even if I am "cheating" by using The Handy Book of Sweater Patterns ... although I decline to consider that cheating, and instead look at it as merely letting someone else do the math). ;o)

Of course, whether or not this current sweater works out remains to be seen ... but so far, it's going great, and if for some reason there is a problem with it, at least it will count as a learning experience that I can hopefully recover from. My attempted trick on the neckline is working out pretty good so far ... pictures tomorrow.

And I didn't know dogs can't have raisins! Good to know ... this dog will eat anything that falls into his path (as we've seen).