I haven’t had clients lined up for the past two days, which has meant lots and lots of knitting time. Unwilling to let my cursed yarn best me, I started going through my books and magazines to find something to do with the Cathay in my stash, and settled on a cute tank top with lace shoulders. I totally did not buy that I was going to get a size that would fit on the size 8s that the pattern suggested, but I was hopeful about the CO 136–about 25 stitches less than the patterns I’d been trying to knit with that same yarn. Trying to learn from my mistakes, I stuck with the 6s that I had been using, and started knitting the smallest size.

It looked promising, but the needles weren’t big enough to try on without moving to waste yarn, and I didn’t feel like dealing with trying to get the stitches back onto the needles if it did turn out to fit. I optimistically kept knitting (god, I hate endless stockinette) until I was about three inches from splitting for the front and back, stopping every eight rows or so ot wish that I could try it on without needing to move the stitches.

Finally, this afternoon, I had my moment of enlightenment, and felt stupid that it had taken me so long to figure out the solution. Put the top on two circs just like I would do for knitting socks. Duh, right? I scrounged around and found a second 4 mm circular, knit half the stitches onto it, and tried the top on. And! It fits! I could not be happier.

There are some stitches that look less than perfect, but I’m hoping that they’ll be able to be coerced into place during blocking. In the meantime, I just need to get through the next three inches of stockinette, the arm holes and the lacey shoulders without managing to screw something up.