Just when I thought I could raid my obese stash for a new project, I remembered…

…In Israel, I had also started Geno from Rowan 43 (the current summer issue). “Gosh”, thinks Susan. “Israel was an unexpected knitting watershed!”

To remind you, that’s this top…

from this mag

If you remember, I had done one pattern repeat on the beach then put it aside because I wanted something needing less concentration.

I had got this far….

Proud of my “one WIP at a time” reputation, I resolved to finish Geno before moving on.

The lace is complicated (for me, anyway) but made much easier by virtue of being charted. Even so, Ben was forbidden to speak, breath, squeak, break wind or otherwise distract me during knit rows. He was permitted to do all of the above during the plain purl rows but he chose to play safe and just stayed quiet – wise man.

Even though this cardigan is in 4 ply it seemed to grow quickly – I was at the armhole in no time.

“Great”, I thought, “I’ll Write out my rows and the decreases in my notebook and crack on….”

Bugger! 😕

The pattern said, “decrease blah blah for the arm hole then, when 15 rows less than the back shoulder shaping have been worked do blah, blah, blah….”

I had been so taken with the lace that I had started on one of the lacy fronts. I hadn’t done the back so had no idea how many rows was “15 less than to the shoulder shaping”. 🙁

There was nothing for it, I had to do the plain, boring, stocking stitch back before I could continue.

My beautiful lace was slipped onto a stitch holder to free up my bamboo needles and I valiantly launched into a sea of stocking stitch. As you may have guessed, I prefer knitting that demands a little more attention!

Fortunately, I had decided to have my car serviced before starting my new job. (Bare with me – this is relevant!) I’ll need to drive regularly to Bristol (320 mile round trip) as part of the new job and it made sense to have the car in tip tip shape before doing so. (Talk about temptation – Get Knitted are a few miles down the road from work!)

My 4 year service was due – I usually drop the car off and wait while they do the service…

….the lady who booked my in was very concerned, “The 4 year service is a very long one – you’ll be waiting at least two and a half hours, will you be OK???”, she said.

“It’ll be fine, I’ll bring my knitting, sit in your comfy chairs and drink your coffee!”, I replied.

“OH, I remember, you’re the knitting lady!”

Yup – I’ve knitted and waited there before!

What better opportunity to get a boring back out of the way – most of it at least!

The Mazda garage was as good as it’s word. In just under 2.5 hours I had a serviced, valeted car to start my new job with and a boring back nearly done. Happy, Happy 🙂

BTW – have I told you about my lovely little car?

Her name insElsie…(because her registration starts with “L.C.”)

She’s a Mazda MX5 Arctic and I love her to bits. (Soft top sports car for those non-car orientated out there!) She makes driving up and down the country for work a bonus, not a chore. 😀

So enough car stuff – I now have a back…

Once I had the back, I could finish the left front….

Then I could start the next front…for which I had already done the deep, dull rib for at Guilty Knitters while I was far too busy chatting to think about lace patterns!

I’m now here on the second front….

(it’s on a holder ‘cos I needed the needles to do some of the plain sleeve at Guilty Knitters !)

I’m not sure how much knitting time the new job will let me have, but I promise – I’m working on it!!