Solution? Something different.

Thank you, blogfriends, for your kind commiseration and enlightening suggestions about how to cope with my current knitted imperfections. I knew you'd understand. You're the best!

Regarding the Men's Zippered Raglan, I'm going to just keep on knittin'. My Old Man will not likely care that some parts have more white than others. And frankly, I'm tired of this knit. Funny how some projects (easy v-neck raglan, Cozy) keep me enthusiastically engaged for hours on end, and others, no matter how passionately I start out on them, leave me kind of bored. No way am I ripping this one back - if I do, I doubt I'll start it again. I think part of my bad attitude with this knit has to do with my growing irritation with LMKG regarding errors. As Alison pointed out a year ago, this particular pattern cannot leave you with the result pictured (i.e., sleeve ribbing matching up with body ribbing) unless you put the smallest size body with the largest size sleeve. Thankfully, Alison was willing to do the Math for the rest of us knitters, and gives great instructions about how to knit the sleeves to match the body. Still, it irks me to shell out the big bucks for a beautiful book that has so many mistakes (this being simply one example). [I'm also irked that this pattern does not call for dpns but then has me cast on 48 sts for the sleeve, only to discover that there is no freakin' way I can fit that few stitches around a 16" cable. I only realized this when we were on the road at Christmastime, my dpns packed carefully in my luggage, far, far away from the passenger seat.] At any rate, I'm keeping it as is, and I will choose to look at it as Amber suggested - little white clouds floating in a bright blue sky.

Regarding the socks, I am definitely going to try just dropping those 3 sts down 25 rounds and see if I can get things squared away from there. We'll see if I can be the boss of my knitting or not. I couldn't muster the energy/concentration/will for it yesterday, though. I just felt too sick and weak still to imagine trying such a feat.

So what is the logical thing to do when you can't face fixing a mistake in an intricate knit and you are bored out of your mind with one that has no chance of being done by deadline anyway? Cast on for something new, of course!

But first, a little story. On my other blog recently, I mentioned that a homeless man who sleeps at our church asked me for a winter cap. Knowing that My Old Man had an extra (because I had knit him a new one last winter), I went home and got My Old Man's old hat for the man (I did ask My Old Man first). It was much appreciated, and it has been really cool to see him wearing it pretty much all the time (and to know that his head is warm when he sleeps outside in the freezing cold every night). So boy was I surprised when I discovered that My Old Man had actually lost the hat I knit for him (he loved that hat - the first thing I ever knit for him - and had been hesitant to tell me he couldn't find it, which is why he didn't mention it when I asked for his old winter cap).

Regarding giving away what turned out to be My Old Man's only hat, I had to wonder: is this irony, or merely unfortunate coincidence? Most people use the term "irony" incorrectly of course (see: Alannis Morissette, almost every newscaster, many of your friends and neighbors). So I always question myself before ever using the term irony to apply to any circumstance. Fortunately for me, I live with a resident expert on the matter of irony, who happens to have written an entire book on the subject. (Mad props to My Old Man, who still totally awes me.) So I took the question to him, and you wouldn't believe how much time we kicked it around: is this irony? or merely unfortunate coincidence?

Verdict: irony. Explained thusly: In my thinking that my husband didn't need a hat, I took action that actually put him in a position of needing a hat. [*scratches head* - now that I write that out, it doesn't sound so ironic. I'm still convinced, though, on a gut level, that there is definitely something ironic about this.] Interestingly, if there were an audience to this little bit, it would definitely qualify as dramatic irony, wherein the audience knows something (My Old Man lost his knitted hat!) that the actor (earthchick, who gives away his other hat, thereby leaving him who she thought had two hats with none) does not. Not to mention perhaps a bit of poetic justice - the man who does not have a home now has a hat, whereas the man who does have a home now needs a hat. Regardless, I'm happy I gave the hat away - the homeless man definitely needed it more.

Not to mention the blatantly obvious - I am now well-justified in casting on for a brand new, unexpected, and very necessary knit.

A hat for My Old Man. It's the same pattern I used for his original watchcap, one that I love for its elegant simplicity and wonderful functionality. And this is the yummilicious yarn that Sarah gave me - Malabrigo in Marron Oscuro (dark brown). It is brown and black with a lovely greenish cast to some of the lighter browns. It will go perfectly with his jacket, which is dark brown and brownish green.

Also, it is a perfect portable project. You know how everyone calls socks the perfect portable project? Well, not the socks I'm knitting! I tried to work those bad boys in the waiting room of the Urgent Care Center earlier this week, and the whole time I was sweating it, thinking I'd be called in to see the doctor right in the middle of a lace pattern repeat. But this little knit? Totally mindless. Just k2, p1, repeat, for 10 inches before any shaping happens. I started it last night and have so far worked on it while watching 24 on DVD, while waiting in the waiting room at the doctor's office, while waiting in the doctor's office itself, and while sitting at traffic lights. Okay, and a teensy little bit while actually driving. Now that's portable.