Stuck

My bag project has not progressed at all in the last week.

I haven't worked on it because I found a problem...and I wasn't sure of the pattern...and it seemed like the fix might take a while.

The problem that I found was that my stitch count was off by 3, which is a weird number to be off by when you are making a symmetrical pattern, and I wasn't able to figure out where I messed up. The pattern itself is the second problem; the cable panels are charted out but the rest of the directions are written out in a confusing, row by row way. I HATE ...double HATE... the patterns that are written out row by row: "Next row (#312) p3 k22 p200 k1 ssk k3 k2tog p836 K1) repeat to end of row" WTF. There has to be a simple and CLEAR way to write a pattern! I guess my brain just can't turn all of the p's and k's and number blah-blah-blahs into a clear picture in my head of what it should look like. Charts! I really, really like charts.

So...I'm a procrastinator when it comes to things that I think might be difficult (I've been meaning to call the cable company about a problem for the last year and a half)(that's not a lie, it's really been a year and a half) and this problem with the number of stitches looks like it might be difficult. So instead of studying it and tackling it head on like a real go-getter, I turned to cooking. Yes, it's odd, but apparently my unwillingness to do a difficult task pushes me into trying something that is equally difficult and far more unfamiliar. I don't cook. I bake. I prefer the inside of the oven where there is a nice even temperature and the food doesn't do anything crazy (like turn black) unless I totally fall asleep. But this week, I have been using the burners...WHOA! First I made enchiladas with homemade sauce (only slightly burnt), then today I cooked potato salad and corn on the cob. It's as if I went crazy and somehow lost the part of me that says "Hey, that's a burner, they're unpredictable, we don't like those." The best part though is that the food was delicous! Seriously, it was. I was shocked too. Maybe these burners are actually o.k.