Falling apart at the seams

It's funny how you can be so engrossed in part of a project - ie a lacy or cabley part - that you don't give other important bits the same loving attention....by which I mean keeping edges neat or increases appropriate to the pattern or tidy binding off or all of those details that make putting the thing together non-stressful. I went to sew my brown Knotty sweater together, marveling over having actually finished the three pieces, and made a real mess of the side seams. It's in reverse stockinette stitch, which normally wouldn't be that hard to sew together invisibly, but a year ago, when I started the sweater, I wasn't very clued into any of those good things mentioned above. Should have knit it on one long circular, for starters, and dispensed with silly side seams. I was too lazy to open my Vogue Knitting and learn how to do a M1 on the purl side; instead I did a lifted increase, but incorrectly. I didn't realize you're supposed to twist the stupid thing so as not to leave a hole, and it didn't look that holey til I tried to sew up the side seams. Then...disaster. Tried to sneakily stitch over some areas to hide how awful they looked. Of course that didn't work. Got frustrated, called Dot. She said she could fix it. Could not leave it alone and tried to pick out the seam, and in doing so actually started to UNKNIT parts of the sides, which actually made me feel sort of faint and nauseated. Dot told me to put it in a paper bag and staple it shut. Now it's at her house, and I can't wait to see what magic she has worked on it. Dot, if you're reading this, that's a hint....the I can't wait part. It's just hard to lavish so much attention on something and not have it be all perfect.
I'm sure you know what I mean!
So once I finish other small projects (stripey sweater fell by the wayside, it had a bad case of the uglies) I think I'm going to tackle designing something, armed with a couple of books and a calculator...it's time to give it a whirl. Don't worry, I won't be swanning around calling myself a designer any time soon...I'm thinking keeping it simple would be smart, though that's not my normal inclination. Actually my normal inclination is to wing it entirely. I'm trying to curb that impulse for the moment for the sake of learning something. I feel a little sorry for myself, scratching my head over basic math while my husband, who learned to knit when we opened the shop, is finishing his two-color guy sweater with short row shaping and saddle shoulders. At least I think that's what they're called. But what would you expect from an expert woodworker?
Must go soothe myself by working on mindless project (two wee hats for two tiny babies.) But if I sneak time to knit, some well-meaning customer inevitably comments on 'how nice it must be to be able to knit all day.'
I wish!

I promised myself that one of my blogging rules would be no pictures of cute pets, cute babies, or too many socks. But...I can't resist. Look at this cute boy!
And here is a picture of pinworm.

Wee, I'm flying high! On sugar, that is. Lemon whoopie pie-type sugar. Why should I bother to eat my 'real food' lunch? On the knitting front, some of us who participated in knitting the sampler sweater, in a class which should have been billed as "Knitting for Masochists", have been putting in our zippers. Mine is half done and I'm not touching it til I have moral support tomorrow. Still have to knit the sleeves, so I'm jumping the gun a bit-

Now it's Tuesday, and I've sworn off sugar. At least til I get home and treat myself to a yummy organic chocolate-dipped ice cream bar, which were two boxes for five bucks at Wild Oats. I'm trying to conserve gas money, you see, and my Dairy Queen habit has gotten out of control, and Wild Oats is close to my house. The DQ is over in South Portland and I feel guilty driving there. Ride my bike, you say? Well, that would sort of ruin the whole seedy pleasure of that totally fake 'ice cream' experience, best enjoyed in a hunched over position (so as not to drop bits of 'chocolate' dip on shorts.) Aside from knitting and yarn and all things related, I love food and cooking, but I'm not as much of a food snob as I used to be. If you came to my house I'd probably make you something pretty good, and pretty healthy, and definitely made from scratch. But when left to my own devices, I slum it.
Back to the yarn shop...I keep hearing about yarn shops that have classes all summer, and I sporadically wonder if it would fly here. My gut feeling thus far has been that people do knit in the summer here, I've seen 'em do it, but they also spend a lot of time in their gardens or at the beach, or knitting on their friends' patios, or whatever. I haven't thought that people would really want to come in here, unless I lured them in with margaritas. And hell, if there are going to be margaritas, maybe I want to be sitting on someone's patio drinking them....and so goes my circular thinking. I know that having your own business means busting your butt to bring in business most of the time, but knowing which avenues are fruitless is important too, no?
Here's hoping I'm not deluding myself. Clink! (I'm toasting myself with my mom's famous iced tea, seeing as I'm at work and have many important things to do...like read other people's blogs.)