The final family FO for Christmas

Did you get the sense from yesterday's non-update update that I was going to finish my brother's green scarf? Your powers of prognostication are sharp because late last night I completed my eighth FO and the last of the original number of scarves I hoped to knit as Christmas gifts.

I learned to knit on October 13, began work on my first scarf at my second knitting lesson on October 16, and wrapped up the seven scarves project, which includes a bonus eighth scarf, in the early hours of November 30. I wasn't supposed to get done so fast, was I?

The good news is that having almost a month until Christmas means I can knit scarves for some friends and, eventually, for myself. In one way, anything I get done between now and the holiday is gravy, but let's face it, you know I'm going to knit like mad to make however many I get in my head that I need to make. I'm excited to learn some new things--purling and knitting with circular needles--so that will shake things up a little too.

My brother's green scarf was smooth knitting. I encountered no problems with it other than having second thoughts about the color. I'm very pleased with it, and hopefully he is too.

So the time has come to return to the medium blue scarf for my friend Paul, who co-hosts the movie review show with me. Last I left it, I had unknitted and frogged several rows when I might have been better off leaving it alone. I stopped when I could see there was a row or two that didn't look right.

Kristin examined it after last night's screening of Apocalypto. She gave me two options: unknit an estimated four rows or let it be. The flaw only shows up on one side, and when the whole thing is finished, it probably wouldn't be all that noticeable. My confidence in undoing stitches has improved, but the prospect of undoing at least eighty of them wasn't something I wanted to do. I knew, though, that having that bad spot would bug me. Unknitting it is.

I've said before that undoing stitches has finally clicked, but perhaps this time I can say so with full confidence. I unknitted four rows, or eighty stitches, only one of which I did incorrectly. That mistake wasn't costly. I would like for Kristin to doublecheck my work before moving forward, but I think I'm good to go again on this scarf.

Next...the second wave of scarves begins.