Blame it on the full moon

Back in the dark ages, when I was a teenager, my mother would always say "Ghislaine is in a bad mood, it must be the full moon" and I, in typical teen-aged fashion, thought she was crazy. She was into astrology and other "weird" things at a time when the term "New Age" was yet unknown. I learned then that I was born "on the cusp" (Gemini/Cancer) and I like to blame my Gemini side for the tendency I have of buying things in multiples of two.

My life has been filled with petty annoyances this week and my mood has been going downhill with each new stumbling block. So when, while I was busy royally cursing my computer, my office neighbour piped up to say that "it must be the full moon", I had a good laugh as I heard my mum's voice saying those exact words!

My knitting has also been suffering from the full moon curse. I had started knitting a lace scarf on the weekend. I wasn't happy with the resulting fabric because I had used needles too small, so I frogged it. I started again with larger needles and this was better. After knitting a good 10 inches, I weighed what was left of my skein and realized that I wouldn't have enough yarn to make the scarf a suitable length. I frogged again and decided to try taking out one of the pattern repeat (a difference of 15 stitches). I knit this up for about six inches and decided that even when blocked I wouldn't be happy with the width. Frog no. 3. I went through the stash looking for some more lace weight yarn I knew I had in a complementary colour; I thought I could "mix and match" and maybe work the two yarns together. I tried that and couldn't come up with a satisfactory result. I took it back down again - this time for good. The yarn is back in the stash until it matures a bit more and decides it really wants to become something worthwhile.

I've gone back to my sock. Think that this is a no-brainer? No. I decided to count the stitches and I am missing two. Somewhere along the way I must have worked a decrease on a row where it was not called for. I put the sock back in its bag until I can decide whether to leave it as is and just work two extra stitches in (I am about to start the heel flap and the chevron pattern looks just fine so I could easily add in the missing stitches). I tend to be very picky. Even though I will often say "just ignore it, no one will notice", invariably after working for hours after uttering such a statement I will rip back down and fix the mistake. At least now I just stop and think about it.

I'm in a much better mood today and things have gone smoother at the office. I also received a new toy - a new digital camera! I can't wait to try it out. It has a a big three inch viewing screen - my main reason for buying this model (HP R927).

Just think of all the great sock pictures I'll be able to take!