UFO report, and "What idiot printed this canvas?"

UFO Report: Last Thursday evening, knowing full well that the Serenity Stroller Snuggie was going to be the Featured UFO for UFO Friday for the forseeable future, I picked it up and knit a lot. Friday morning, I discovered that something had gone horribly, horribly wrong about six rows back... so Friday night, I frogged. And wept a bit, since at this point I was looking at something on the order of 400 stitches I needed to pick up, in a lace pattern with cables. I persevered, and got THAT done. THAT could have been another four hours of knitting time, but NOOOOOOO, I had to spend it ripping back and very carefully recasting, all while keeping my energy positive and upbeat - since it's effectively a baby blanket, and I don't want any bad juju near a baby. It wasn't easy, but I kept watching my favorite video podcast, and it kept me happy and sane. (PS, there's a new episode up, if you didn't already know.)

Anyway, it's cast back on, and by Sunday, I was cursing it as I attempted to fall asleep, and my brain insisted on figuring out what increase/decrease combination I needed to alter the pattern to do what I wanted it to do.

Luckily, I figured it out, and I'm about 12 rows from where the eyelet edging begins:


Now, ask me how often I've picked it up. Go on. I dare you.

I should add that Clapotis, which many people have deemed Quite Dull through the center bits, is a pleasant change from intricate re-scaled what-the-hell-let's-wing-it-completely lacework. On the upside, I'm getting a lot of Clapotis done (up to the straight part now), and I'm at the point where I could design my own fairly intricate lace & cable thingy. Which is good, since I'll be doing some of that in the Masters, right?

And about the canvas I've been playing with. Lots of folks have questioned me about my usual insistence on hand-painted canvases. "So let me get this straight - you're paying hundreds of dollars for a hand-painted piece of art, and then you're going to cover it up with yarn?" Um, yeah, that's it exactly. This is one of the few kit pieces I've bought (ever), and the reason I don't like them is this:


I'm maybe 30 stitches from the corner, and the thing is already so far off-register that if I didn't have the chart, I wouldn't be able to stitch this thing. The paint might as well not be there, and the canvas *is* kinda cheap. If I had been paying more attention when I got it, I probably would've NOT started stitching on this bit of canvas, getting a blank piece instead and working on that. Since I'm already worried about running out of blue wool, though, I'll keep going here - but definitely just using the chart, and remembering not to pay any attention to what's on the canvas. Here's what I've stitched so far:


I figure I'll count out the stitches for the "frame" and get that in place, and work inward from there. I think there may be rules against doing that, but whatever. This is gonna be a totebag someday, when it grows up, btw.