Lace: Why? . . . Why?

I know that this isn't a picture of lace because I'm designing something for a book and I can't show it to you. It's a picture of my progress of the revamped Girlfriend's Swing Coat Sweater in Spud & Chloe Sweater, Waterslide. I know, I know, it's going slowly but I'm struggling over here with lace.

I've never been a fan of knitting lace or lace knitting (there are people who will correct me or inform me what the difference is and I know what the difference is but don't want to go into it here. Just know, both types have something against me). I've never been a fan because whenever it seems like I'm on a roll I end up having to tink back and when I tink back I manage to drop stitches or yarn overs, get everything tangled or drop a stitch marker or two and lose my place.

The other "hilarious" thing that happens to me is I put the project in my lap and somehow, somehow, when I get up from the chair the working yarn gets caught on something and next thing I know: r-r-rrrrip! Why? Why? Dear Universe: This is no longer funny.

It is kind of like writing an entire college thesis and having your computer crash and lose all the data. Wait: That actually happened to me once. Losing lace isn't as bad.

And don't tell me to put in a lifeline. Last time I did that, I managed to slip my working needle out completely and lose a day's worth of work. The good news is, I'm using to die-for yarn and it cheers me up.

Speaking of cheering up: After mangling another four inches of the lace item under discussion, I came home to find what Blue Sky Alpacas calls a Shade Card Kit. If we designers are lucky enough, sometimes a yarn company will send you such a thing. This one is a doozy. Seriously. I opened it and tears sprung from my eyes. It's a yarn junkie's dream. 

It made my day of tinking, sweating bullets, tunnel vision and muttering under my breath complete. Feast your eyes on the boxes of yarn which, I found out, you can purchase. I asked permission to post these photos because I knew that if I posted them you'd all go nuts and try to score them. I didn't even know that you could buy such a thing. Turns out you can. At least I know that you can get the ones for Blue Sky Alpacas here. The Spud & Chloe one, I'm not sure about, but I thought I'd show you a pic of that shade kit, too, because it is adorable, and you can spot the Waterslide Sweater yarn in the bunch.