Always Read the Fine Print

I'm starting this post from the office, during my lunch hour, and I hope to be able to publish it this evening. Phil is out of town on business this weekend, leaving me with the kids and the house and the Life. My evenings have been so busy that what little down time I actually have left by day's end, I've devoted to knitting, as I'm sure you'll understand.

First things first, today is Maxime's birthday! It's hard to believe that in just one short year he could go from this:

to this:

But that's life for you! It was a year ago today (actually right this minute, I'm typing this at 12:34 PM) that I underwent an emergency C-section and Maxime was born. I had been experiencing some pretty serious pain over the past few days, and on my scheduled doctor's appointment that day, my physician had trouble finding Maxime's heartbeat, which was considerably slower than normal. So off I went to the hospital, and by the time I got there they wanted him out ASAP! So under the knife I went, for the second time (Émilie was a breech baby). He had a few minor complications, but in the everything worked out for the best, and I've got a healthy, happy baby. I'm so proud of my little big man!

Since Daddy is out of town, we'll be having a small dinner with my parents to celebrate tonight, and we'll be having a barbecue with immediate family on Sunday, where the bulk of the gifts will be opened. I didn't want to have another huge shindig this time around, because Émilie really freaked out at HER first birthday party (I think it was all the people at once in our small house - she was NOT amused!), and I don't want to risk going through all that again! Besides, weekends are busy enough around here as it is! :)

(Maxime enjoying his cake, about 2 hours ago!)

I also want to share a knitting misshap with you. As you know, I'm working on making the Good Stripe Dress from the Spring '08 IK for Émilie, and I'm using KnitPicks CotLin. Now, I swear, I was a good knitter. Yes, I was substituting (I can't afford Euroflax at 20$ a skein!). But I calculated, I ordered, and I swatched. I SHOULD have enough yarn. I mean seriously, I've got 2 Masters' degrees, for Pete's sake, I can handle simple math.

Turns out I can't handle simple READING. I made my yardage calculations using Ravelry's description for Euroflax, which at the time was based on 50 gr hanks at 135 yards per hank. The pattern says you need 2 hanks of the MC, which would be 270 yards worth. Still with me? CotLin has 123 yards per ball, so to be on the safe side, I ordered 3 balls. 123 x 3 = 369 yards. More than enough. No brainer. Right?

Well, as it turns out, the yardage for Euroflax on the PATTERN is 270 yards for a 100 gr hank (and apparently Ravelry has corrected it's mistake since I ordered, their description is now for 100 gr hanks). So I would in fact have needed to order 5 balls of my MC. Also for my main contrasting colour, but it looks like I'm going to make it by the skin of my teeth on that one.

Frantic, I called KnitPicks and asked if they had any left in my dye lot. They didn't. What now????? I've only got one stripe to go!!!!

I decided to check out if other people had any CotLin in Royal Plum from lot 4017 in their stash, and 3 people did. I've contacted them all, and Deborah has graciously offered to trade me her ball of CotLin. Thank you Deborah! You're a queen among knitters.

So let this be a lesson to you all. Even if you think you're doing everything right, the Knitting Goddess, fickle bitch that she can be, can smote you down just for shits and giggles. Beware.

Happy Knitting Everyone! And a Happy Birthday to my son Maxime. I love you, little man. I hope you had a great day.