Three Knitting Lessons . . .

Lesson 1: What's worse than forgetting that the even rows of a pattern (that aren't shown on the chart) are "knit even" and having to tediously tink back an entire round of a sock? Thinking you're smart by knitting two socks at once and now having to tink TWO rounds. . . Humph. The toes of my Falling Leaves socks are done, but due to the above, I am slow-going on the feet. At least I noticed it pretty early. I can't imagine what carnage would have ensued if I'd completed the 16 rows of the pattern repeat before realizing that I had to knit even between each row!

Lesson 2: Just a word on bringing home Christmas yarn--be sure you don't pack it in the suitcase next to the zipper or it could get caught when you try to unzip it and you'll have to *gasp* CUT IT OUT. Ask me how I know.
In a move of absolute blind luck, I happened to cut at a fairly good place and only wound up sacrificing about 2 yards of my beautiful maroon sock yarn.

Lesson 3: Oh, and if you ship yarn home in a box--make sure your dad doesn't pack it right up top by the tape seam so that when you slit it open with scissors you don't score across the hank of blue hand-dyed wool your sister made you. Again--ask me how I know. (I haven't wound this, yet, so I don't know how bad the damage is, but it appears to be relatively shallow.)

Yeesh! Three lessons I didn't really want to learn--but that are now permanently seared into my memory! (And probably yours now, too! Aren't you glad I'm here to make these nasty mistakes for you? *grin* You're welcome.)