Irish Moss week 11

I've been knitting on the maple man's Irish moss for 11 weeks. I'm mid-way through ball 10:



I'm really getting tired of it but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and and trying to stick with it. I can glance at a chart and chant to myself front, back, back, then my head knows that front, front, back comes next. The "purl back" rows go quicker. Well, they're not really purl backs, but I can generally read the knitting and know what to knit without looking at the charts much. And rows 1 and 9 have fewer cables so they go pretty quickly too.

It slows me down when I find odd stitches that need to be switched from knits to purls or vice-versa. And it slows me down when I have to stop and pick out vm (vegetative matter, maybe it's hay?) Which sometimes happens several times per row. And sometimes doesn't happen for several rows.

In any case, there is progress. The maple man has a trip to Oregon planned for a couple of weeks from now. The sweater won't likely be ready. However, his birthday is in mid-November and I'm guessing it may be ready by then. If not, maybe it's a Christmas sweater?