They're Winning, or Third Bootie Syndrome

Living in the moment has never been my strong suit. I'm always looking down the road, three steps ahead of where I am now. This may sound far-sighted and wise, but the truth is, I usually end up tripping over the here and now and landing flat on my face.

This stupid bootie is a case in point. Okay, okay, okay. I am aware that the bootie fails the Sesame Street Test For Being Alive.

(Really,watch this. This isn't the bit I was thinking about when I Googled "sesame street something is alive", but it's Robin Williams.)

Anyway, like Mr. Williams, I am aware that footwear is inanimate, not sentient. Thus it is incapable of stupidity. I am not going to pursue the implications here. Still. In the space of 20 rounds I managed first to reverse direction on my knitting, ending up with 8 rounds of reverse stockinette. Rip. Then I reached the end of the foot, except I was kitty-corner from where I should have been. Rip. In fact, no matter to what point I ripped back and re-knit, I still ended up wrong. I'm sure it had nothing to do with trying to knit while watching Danny Kaye in The Court Jester ("the pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle, the flagon with the dragon has the brew that is true").

Finally, this afternoon, I admitted I had befuddled myself to the point of no return. I conceded.

The score is now booties: 1, me: 1 sort of - if I decide to keep the first one. Or more humiliatingly, booties: 2, me: 1/2 - if I allow myself a partial score for the learning experience.

Keeping in mind my recent experience with what happens when you try to reuse yarn you've knit up and ripped out, the 2nd bootie is now a small mass of wet yarn.

Although, considering the number of stitches I've knit, it may be I've gone passed third bootie syndrome and this is the beginning of 4th.

9/24/07. Edited to Add: I meant to hit publish and post this on Sunday, which is when I wrote it. On looking it over this morning, I really have nothing to add, except that by now, of course, the 3rd bootie is a small mass of dry yarn. It will shortly be rewound, and thus will disappear from my immediate surroundings, as if it never were. If only I could empty my brain of it so efficiently.