I ordered this pattern and yarn from Elann.  I have had a devil of a time getting the lace pattern through my brain.  My fingers seemed to develop little minds of their own and would not listen to reason!  Various mistakes, which did not become evident until 10 rows into it,  have led to ripping back at least a half a dozen times. 

To add to the frustration are gnawing doubts that the yarn  ordered is really not suitable.  I came down with a case of Peruvian Highland Fever (I really should cut back on my blog reading!), which matches the pattern gauge, but don’t know if it will lend itself to the drape of this design. Despite all the knitting going on, I have only 5 inches of work so far – not quite enough to see how this fabric is going to lay/hang.

what to do, what to do ….. how long do you let a project go on before deciding to cut bait?

In other news, I spent a good four hours toiling over the pine needles in my back yard yesterday and have made a serious dent in my autumnal-cross-to-bear.  We have an outdoor fireplace type thing and I threw a few piles in there to burn.  It is a small fireplace and could never handle burning all the leaves and needles that our trees have to offer, not to mention the fact that it is against town ordinances  in these parts.  I was simply providing myself with atmosphere – much like those air-fresheners that are made to smell like baking cookies. An olfactory sound track as it were.  As I was raking away, I was pining (pardon the pun!) for the days when we really could burn our leaves.  Nothing beats the smell of burning leaves on a cool day …. can you smell them?