Paying the piper

Fun always comes with a price tag, doesn't it? And payment has come due for my little fling with crocheted floozies -- Plissé is not pleased.

The problem with cheating on your main WIP (work in progress) is that you need a good memory to keep your facts straight. And this week my memory went walkabout as far as Plissé was concerned.

I was blithely knitting away on the second sleeve, almost to the part where I needed to start the "pleated" inset. In other words, very near the end of the "takes forever to knit *&^#* second sleeve." And then it hit me -- I had altered the length of the first sleeve, making it considerably shorter. And guess what happens to your rate of decrease when you shorten a sleeve? That's right, you need to decrease more frequently. As in -- much more frequently than I had done. Please, take a moment to feel my pain as I ripped out days of work -- improperly done work, but lots of work nonetheless. Each stitch pulled out was a stab to the heart, but rip we must.

I offer myself up as an example of cheating love gone wrong in earnest hopes that you can profit from my pain. I've learned an important lesson my friends -- don't cheat on your projects. Or, put another way -- don't stray until you've finished the part that has to match another part.