Anticipation goeth before a misstitch

I really thought I had a chance at finishing my cape this weekend. I finally remembered that I had tucked it in its ziplock under the bed, thinking that I would stick in-progress projects under there because I have too many in progress now to fit them all in my knitting bag. Then I promptly forgot.

Anyway, on Friday I was kind of in a hurry so I shoved my Starry Night Socks and the cape in my knitting bag. I would have worked on the socks all evening but it turns out I had left my pattern (I decided to use the elongated corded rib from SKS) in the car, which would have been a rather chilly walk around the block from my friend's house. Therefore, I worked on the cape instead. I made pretty darn good progress on it.

Saturday morning I had to get my oil changed, so I knitted on the cape for about an hour while I waited for the car to be ready. Then I went home and knit some more. I made huge progress and I began to think I might be able to finish it, if not that evening, then surely on Sunday.

Alas, it was not to be. No sooner had this gleeful hope entered my head than I discovered mistakes, and had to drop stitches and do the ladder dance to fix them. I am not very good at the ladder dance so this took way longer than it should have, and I ended up having to do it two or three times before the stitches were finally, finally right (stupid stitches). This trend continued on to Sunday. I'm sure I could have finished the darn think if I had been making forward progress the whole time (a common cry in the knitting world, I know). But, I am still nearly done. If I don't have any more issues I might be able to finish it tonight, depending on what time I get home and how long it takes me to make dinner. Also, I don't really feel very well at all today, so there is no guarantee I will feel well enough to knit.

In any case, I am looking forward to having this done. However, I am a little perplexed about what to do with it once I am finished. This yarn sheds HORRIBLY and I will never be able to wear the cape at this rate. I hope that washing it a couple of times will fix this, but I don't know. Also, it clearly needs to be blocked, and I am a total blocking novice. What to do, what to do!

I am anxious to get this one done and off my needles. I am combating a fierce case of startitis, but I am determined to cross off all the requests I have before I start the things I really want to work on. They should all be fairly quick knits (famous last words, right?) so I am hoping that if I can just motor through them, I will be able to knit for myself guilt-free. No more requests for me - I will offer to teach people to knit but I am so not putting myself in this position again!!