shipwrecked

My glorious plans to finish Shipwreck yesterday and block it today have come to naught. I think I'll be able to block it tomorrow, but there are no guarantees. This is what happened:

Several days ago: I looked at my rapidly dwindling ball of yarn, and I looked at my border, and I realized that I was getting tired of the pattern. Yo, k2tog all the way around for 500+ stitches is simple, but tedious. At this point I think I'd just switched up to the next needle size and was not looking forward to 43 more rounds before casting off. I've already put thousands of stitches into the border and I'm tired. So, I decided to make it smaller, partly to avoid joining another ball of yarn, partly so it would be finished sooner, and partly because I am short and the shawl's big enough already.

Yesterday evening: I shortened the border even more and was sitting in a coffee shop waiting for people from knit night (I'm new and I forgot the time, so I was half an hour early; I sat in the coffee shop knitting and watching people, a habit I acquired in ethnography class), counting down (10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..) When I got home, I finished one more round and started the final increase round on big 8 mm needles (...1...).

10:45 pm: (...Cast off!!!) Finish round and rejoice. I can start casting off!

11:30 pm: Man, this is taking a while. I start another episode of Cast-On (thinking how funny it is that I'm casting off while listening to Cast-On) and when my eyes need a break, I go through a page or two of lace patterns, seeing if there's anything interesting.

Midnight: I am tired but determined to finish before I go to bed. I get up and stretch, take a moment to clear my head, and sit down to knit some more.

12:30 am: Another episode of Cast-On.

1:00 am: I take a break from knitting by weaving in all the ends now rather than later. Then, my worst fear comes true. I run out of yarn and I have to get out the last skein. It is not in a ball yet, and I have no swift, no handy-dandy ballwinder. I have to stick it on the back of my chair and unwind some of it so I can knit (I'll wind it up into a ball tomorrow)

1:30 am: Will this ever end?

2:15 am: I finally realize that binding off over 1000 stitches is a time-consuming process, I am exhausted, and I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It would be nice if I was awake for it. It would also be nice if my bind off looked good. I reluctantly set my needles down, and crawl into bed. My husband is snoring (he's been in bed for a couple of hours). Then I take a good fifteen-twenty minutes to actually fall asleep.

So I'm working on Shipwreck now for a bit before I leave for my doctor's appointment. I am taking a different knitting project with me. It's simple. Stockinette and garter stitch. Relaxing. Less than fifty stitches in a row. I'll tackle the rest of Shipwreck when I get home.