Waiting for My Plane to Come...

Okay. Not really. I'm actually waiting for 12:30 to come so we can leave for the airport, where we'll park the car, get on the shuttle, check in, and then wait for another two hours for our plane to come. But you get the idea. I do this every time. I totally freak out for a few days before a trip, and then, in the last few hours before it's time to go, I sit here thinking, I'm ready to go. Now what? To make matters worse, yesterday Paul told me that our flight was leaving at 2. But really it's leaving at 3. That gives me an extra hour to pace through the house -- which, inevitably, is what I end up doing. I can't focus on anything of importance, and there's nothing else for me to do.

So now my bags (filled with more grey sweaters than any one person should have) are packed. Maybe I'll take out a grey sweater and throw in...an off-white sweater. Who knows. I'm crazy like that. The dishes are clean. The bed is made. I've packed my books and my knitting and everything else of importance -- except, of course, my computer. And here I sit, buzzing with anticipation and caffeine from the cup of coffee that Paul made me to lure me out of bed (if you've had too much caffeine, like I have, be sure to check out this sweater on You Knit What?? -- it'll blow your mind).

My Birch-in-progress is already packed, but if it weren't, I'd take a picture and show you that I've finished the first repeat of eight whole rows (which I did post-packing, during Two and a Half Men and a couple of episodes of The Gauntlet II). Of course I wasn't really paying attention when I read through the pattern the first time through, but when I got to row eight, I found a bit of a catch: decreases on both sides. In other words, after eight rows, my markers have been rendered absolutely useless because the whole pattern shifts over one stitch. What I once thought was just a simple little lace pattern has turned into...well, a normal lace pattern. So I took my markers out, but I'm thinking I may take advantage of my new locking stitch markers and put a few in -- just to be safe. The last thing I want to do is to end up sitting on the plane, screaming not-so-savory words while I rip out lace. I did, however, put in a lifeline, which makes me feel a little more confident in moving forward.

Anyway...I'm off to pace through the house until 12:30. Only three more hours... While I'm doing that, check out my review of The Yarn Girls' Guide to Beyond the Basics. And, while you're there, sign up for the newsletter for a chance to win a great game.