Knitting Content

I finished the tea set this past weekend, and the cute little cups, pitcher and creamer are drying on my sickeningly large collection of travel mugs. The photos are currently trapped in my Canon Elph, but I'll get around to posting 'em soon enough. I am also working on the plaid placemat that matches the Fiesta Tea Set. Weeks ago I scoured the web to find a picture of the finished placemat, to see if I even liked it. Plaid? I don't know. Multiple bright colors in a plaid formation? Serious Yuck potential. So I emailed the designer, Annie Modesitt, to ask her for a photo of the dreaded placemat. Again, the gods of computer crashes and erased photos were against me. So I embark, willy nilly. And now it has become the dreaded "monster project with deadline." So far, I have 8 bobbins hanging off a band of kntting that's only 8 inches wide (and embarassingly 2 inches long)! By the end of the placemat, there will be at least 10 bobbins. WTF? I now understand why all those knit bloggers who posted adorable picturesof their tea sets did not include the placemat. Unlike my stupid ass, these people probably looked at the directions and thought, "hmmm...looks complicated and intricate and annoying. hmmm... this will be a gift for a kid who will never understand how much work went into the placemat, and will probably, in the course of normal and expected playing, mangle the poor thing. and hmmm...Not.A.Chance." I, however, am Not.As.Smart. I am bull-headed. I plunged right into the evil plaid placemat with no consideration and now find myself reluctant to drop it. BTW - I'm also reluctant to turn the placemat into a nice striped piece. Don't ask why. I'm stubborn. So I'm chugging along with a Saturday deadline nagging at me. Wish me luck, will ya?