Block Buster

The schedule for the big Secret Santa Crafter's Tote project has taken a big hit this week.  I had to give up on two of the chosen stitches after completing the first of their nine squares.

The broomstick lace was going to be too flimsy and the wavy puffs frustrated me too much but that was probably because it wasn't suited to the size of the square I needed and all my attempts to jigger the multiple of 17 stitch iteration counts to accommodate the 40 stitches to 4 inches gauge would not give me a fabric that would not pucker.

It may not be rocket science but it is math.

I wasted four days (read 20 hours) on it before giving up.  I could not imagine without heart palpitations working ten more squares of it.  Even if I could get the math right.

I was able to repurpose the broomstick square so did not have to take it out but there was nothing useful to be done with the puckered up wavy puff piece and I desperately needed the aqua thread on two more of the strips so I took it out.

So as of last Thursday I had 20 of the 99 squares and hoped for a square per day pace.  I lost two squares and ended up able to claim 22 as of this evening.  Not ideal at all.  That leaves me with 76 squares plus 9-11 inches in width on the  8ft Mobius and all the sewing together and finishing touches with 81 days available for working. Am going to have to increase the number of minutes per day I work on it.  But it helps that both of the stitches I chose to replace these two are going to work up quick.

Counting the brown bamboo thread used in the Mobius strip that will be the bottom/sides/strap I am going to run out of six of the colors within another three weeks or so.  Thus I made a Joanne.com order on Monday and am hoping I don't run out of one of the colors before it arrives.  Running out of one of the pastels can stall work on several of the 9 strips which is what having that aqua tied up on that one square for a week did.  But I can always switch over to the Mobius strip and get ahead on it if that happens.  Until I run out of the brown.

Am really looking forward to that thread order though as I got to order several 'just for fun' threads--new colors and variegated, including 4!! of the special Lizbeth size 20 Egyptian cotton to add to my palette.  But if I continue to fall behind on this project I won't get to play with the new thread before Christmas.  :(

Staying on schedule may have just gotten more complicated too as I may be needed to help my sister out with Mom later this month which means time out for packing and traveling.  If that happens it would be after next Monday and I would be staying through Thanksgiving at least.