Waterloo Returns

For the first time since February 26th, yesterday, I picked up Waterloo. The yarn, the body and the sleeve-in-progress, were all neatly waiting on my craft table where they had been set aside during the Olympic knitting challenge. I retrieved my note book with the written, row-by-row instructions for the colour-work pattern and was ready to knit. With just one, little, but, oh-so-important, missing detail . What row was I on?

Yesterday, I gave you the 2009 date when I had hung out laundry for the first time that spring. And if you were to ask, I could tell you the date for each year back to - well, actually, I am embarrassed to tell you how many years back I could go. All of it due to my 'anally-retentive' record keeping.

But did I write down what row I had just finished when I set Waterloo down for three weeks? Nope! So the counting began. Remember, it is a 32 row repeat. Thank goodness for that one bright orange row. It made a great marker. Once I thought I had the right row, I checked off coloured stitches in that row, comparing them to the chart. Knitting was only delayed by 30 minutes or so. And once I started, it did feel good to have Waterloo back in my hands. With the first sleeve two-thirds finished and my goal-setting skills revved to new heights from the Olympic challenge, I am setting a goal to have this warm, heavy sweater finished before the weather heats up enough to encourage small-project knitting.

As a post script - I think the true definition of 'early spring' is "A day warm and sunny enough to enjoy sitting on our south-facing deck, but having to wade through two feet of snow to retrieve the lawn chairs from the shed."