Lifelines and too many repeats!

I've been putting off writing until I finished part 5 of Concerto, but part 5 seems to be conspiring against me, so I'm going to post now and finish it later.

After flying through parts 3 and 4 (pictured) easily and quickly, I must have gotten overconfident - either that, or the exhaustion and illness which has hit me over the last week must have affected my knitting more than I thought it would. I had decided not to put a lifeline in at the start of part 5 like I have been with the rest of the parts, figuring I was doing well enough and wouldn't need one. And so I didn't, for the first repeat. Then I got to the second repeat, and was just about finished when I noticed a problem. A big one. I had dropped 4 stitches at one point (although how I missed that when I count every other row I don't know) and the end had gotten short. It was getting into the pattern and messing it up, so there was no simply adding stitches to make it up. I had to rip. It was a delicate job without a lifeline, but I manged it pretty well. You can't even tell where I did it - go me! After that, I learned my lesson and put a lifeline in at the beginning of the third repeat. I'm really quite glad I did now, because I've just noticed a huge mistake, even bigger than the last one. The pattern is completely out of sync with itself, and is going to require taking back to the beginning of the repeat - again! I'm going to end up doing a 3 repeat section with about 5 repeats. Bah. Not best pleased.

I was hoping to get the stole done by the 19th, as a birthday present to myself, but given these setbacks and the fact that I've been feeling so poorly, I might just set it aside until my brain is working again. I'd have to have Adrian hide it though, since I keep wanting to work on it even when I know I'm not at my best - and this really does take my best! So, I have a lace stole which I can't work on until I feel better, a lace shawl that's pretty much the same (lace takes concentration, which I don't have at the moment) and.... well, nothing else. I wanted to have something to knit mindlessly, and I had some lovely angora merino in a large quantity, so I decided to use that and make a blanket. I've found a pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/easy-peasy-squares-blanket which seems to fit the bill nicely, so I'm working on that. The yarn is gorgeously soft and I'm really enjoying working it.I know, more blue, but it seems to grab my eye every time I buy yarn, so I have a lot of it. Either that or I'm just in a blue mood so using it right now.

So until the 12th, when the Ravelympics start, this is my project. More on that to come later!