My Knitting -- A Greek Tragedy

There is a common wisdom in knitting that when you travel you will always overpack.  You will always bring one more project than you can manage.  You will always imagine more time than is available.  And you will always, always, be busier than you think.  For some reason this weekend I tried my hardest to prove to be the exception to the collective experience of knitters everywhere.

When I packed for my four days at home I decided that I would need something basic.  Something to keep my interest during two graduation ceremonies, but also something that I could drop at an instant to snap a picture or stand and cheer.  At the same time I needed something very portable because I knew I would spend at least two days running around getting things set up for the wedding.  So I settled on my Kaleidoscope, a simple stockinette body knit in fingering weight yarn.  I only had about five inches on the needles and almost an entire skein of Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock, which has a put up of 430 yards.  Because I did my packing at 11 o'clock at night this seemed like the perfect plan.  It was not until I got to graduation number one and knit for two straight hours that I realized I may have a problem.

I didn't have enough yarn.  Think about it.  Four days, stockinette, 5.0mm needles.  That is not enough knitting. Fortunately at the last second I had thrown in a hat I'm knitting, but that only lasted the drive home.  Then I was stuck.  Me, the sweater, and a race against time to see if my quickly dwindling ball of yarn would last.

When I left home last night I had this much left.

An hour after we got on the road I hit 16 inches on the body and realized it was time to break off for the sleeves.  Only I didn't have any waste yarn or stitch holders.  I spent the entire drive back alternating between napping and driving Chris nuts because I was stuck sitting with no knitting.

And there you have it.  All the collective wisdom of the knitting universe proved right again.  Just as the gods foil the mortals at the last second in Greek myth,  I did not run out of yarn.  I ran out of pattern.