Ball Bearings

I kind of lost them a bit today.

I was distracted this afternoon by the episode of Dr. Who I was watching while knitting this drippy Sunday afternoon. I mean, really, can one be expected to pay close attention when listening to such riveting dialog as this, spoken by a Dalek to his minions in the Empire State Building: “The pig slaves will take the lift!” I’m hoping at least a few of my readers understand.

Turns out I was thrown off to the tune of an entire row – that’s right – I just skipped one – and managed to do so for the entire round. At least I was consistent! I didn’t realize my mistake until I had finished the entire ball, stuffing, hanging loop, and all. I can’t believe I got that far without noticing. I thought for a moment that I might just unravel the whole thing, but I’d done such a good job of weaving in all my ends, that in the end it seemed it would be less frustrating to just start over. So I did, and I’m glad.

I think my tension was better the second time around, and the second version seems, overall, rounder. This pattern introduces the chapter called Tradition, and is called Secret Rose. Now that I’ve confessed my secret, hopefully this won’t happen again. But on the up-side, I will have knitted an even number of balls when I finish this project. Assuming I don’t do this again.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the old one. Keep it as a spare? Keep it handy as a reminder of the dangers of knitter’s hubris? Or I could just get rid of it. It is inferior after all. Exterminate! Exterminate!