Un-Ravelry'd

This should be the post where I smugly post about the terrific progress I'm making on MS3. And I was, really I was.

I had a goal to complete Clue 6 by the end of the weekend. And, boy howdy, it was just moving briskly along...row after row of perfection. Began Clue 7 last night...late, of course, by the lights of some of the MS3 experts (this incredible knitter, for instance), but still well ahead of the Slow-Bees.

Now, here I should say, that I have learned that MS3 is NOT a project that can bear any distraction at all. It takes all of the power of my 14 remaining brain cells to work on this project and all 14 better be fully concentrating. So, what in the world could distract me, so close to the finish line?

Can you say RAVELRY? Say it again, RAV-EL-RY. Accent on the RAV. It might as well be called DISTRACTION, accent on the TRAC because it got me seriously off-TRAC.

Oh, I've had fun with it, rather the way an elicit lover is fun. Those cozy dinners tucked away with your new love, while the old one stays at home mopping the floor, those clandestine meetings in the No-Tell Motel, those sweet forbidden kisses in the shadows ... not that I would know anything about those things, of course.

Ravelry is one of those lovers who pulls you away from your responsible, boring life of knitting row after row of swan feathers and says, "come on ... you know you want to do it ... just enter two more of your projects ... what about that lace yarn, you know you want to take a picture of it ... there are messages to read, groups to join, shops to add to the database ... come on, your knitting will never even notice you're gone."

So, I've been knitting a pattern row, then entering, photographing, responding, etc., then purling back, then documenting, digging yarns out of hidden baskets, knitting a pattern row. Uh, counting stitches? Uh, no. And not reading my knitting either. Nope, not me, but I've sure been Raveling up a storm!

And, all the while, checking out other Ravelers' projects and stashes and planning my next project(s) because (a) I have all that yarn (!!!!) and (b) I'm so darned good that I'm clearly ready to move on to the next thing. Herbert Niebling, here I come!

And you know where I'm going with this, right? We've been found out, caught! Last night I found a glitch* about 12 rows back. Yes, back somewhere at the end of Clue 6. So did I have a lifeline? Nah, I've been too good for those things for quite awhile, since Clue 4, probably ... no lifeline. So I'm tinking. And tinking.

Ravelry ... I love you, but I'm going back to my spouse for a few days, just to pull things together a bit. Tink our relationship and see if I can get it back on TRAC.



*The cardiologist in the Charlotte hospital who recently examined my EKG proclaimed that I have a "blip." "Blip?" I said. "What does that mean?" His reply: "Well, er, hard to say ... it's a blip, an irregularity, maybe it's a big deal, maybe not. No worries!" I guess a "glitch" is the same sort of thing ... maybe a big deal, maybe not. When you're tearing out multiple rows, it feels like a big deal.