the curse of the last ball

i am very close to finishing the chunky blue stole. i am on the last ball of yarn.

this is supposedly a scarf, but since i am knitting it up in frog tree chunky alpaca instead of the chenille the pattern calls for, i think it will be more of a stole. and it is soft and warm and really lovely and i can't wait to finish it so i can wear it. but for some reason, the closer i get to the end, the more mistakes i make and have to unknit.

every time i do a "yeah!" because the size of the last ball of yarn is noticeably shrinking, i find i missed the pattern 5 rows back and have to unknit to correct it. or i wind up with 42 stitches on my needle instead of the 40 i am supposed to have. and then i correct it to find i have 39 stitches instead of 40 and then i have to correct that! good grief! i am experiencing flashbacks of the slippery poncho which was ripped apart instead of finished due to the endless mistakes made while knitting with the last ball of yarn!

so i stop and take a breath. then i carefully put the scarf back in its bag, make a cup of tea, work on another project, remember my sweet friend would have never really worn the slippery poncho anyway and move on. at least for the moment. i was really hoping to wear the chunky blue scarf to work on monday.

so maybe i'll have two cups of tea and get back to it to see if i can work through this curse.