big mistake

How about this for a fabulous (gutsy!) knitter's tattoo?


So here is a lesson learned and I'm sharing it because I made a big mistake earlier this week. Don't be me.

I have been making ok progress on my Lace Leaf Pullover. I frogged the upper part and took better measurements and not a little bit of time last weekend to figure out how big the armholes should be to fit me. I put in the time, I got the results. Armholes that were the perfect size. I even tried it on just as I reached the point where one could put in a couple of short rows for bust shaping, were one so inclined, and I did that too. And it fit great. And I was moving smoothly toward my waist, where I was considering a couple of decrease rows for a bit of an hourglass shape. It was all going so well.

The straight stockinette even lent itself to knitting while watching DVDs of the third season of Alias. Not every project is suitable for this, let me tell you. All continued to go well.

Suddenly, disaster! The combination of draining my first glass of wine and being distracted by Alias was too much. I noticed a funny lumpy pully weird stitch a few stitches back on one side of the front of the pullover. I didn't like it. It had to go. I dropped the corresponding stitch above it back and worked it back 8 rows or whatever it was, and bizarrely (to my befuddled brain) when it got there I could not figure out what was going on--there was like a sideways stitch sticking out of that row next to the stitch I'd dropped back to, and it didn't go away when I picked up my stitches again, working up the ladder.

If you haven't been drinking and you know how short rows work, you'll realize that I frogged back to my short row and screwed it up royally by not realizing what it was and by trying to get rid of the wrapped stitch. I still didn't realize this still I decided, fine, it's late in the evening but I'll frog, and I frogged (fueled by my second glass of Chardonnay) right back to the short rows and I said to CK, well this must be my problem! I picked this up at some point and started knitting in the wrong direction and it totally screwed everything up! How could I have done that while working in straight stockinette?? What an idiot. I kept frogging, and hit the other end short row. At which point I said, wait, I wouldn't have done that twice....

OH.

I had completely forgotten about my clever short rows. I had taken a perfectly fitting upper body of a sweater and ripped it back beyond my perfect shaping.

Take it from me, chillens. Don't frog if you've been drinking. Just put it down, step away, and look at it in the sober light of morning. Or the following weekend--whenever you have time to look at it and consider it and think, what was I thinking when I veered from the black and white of the written pattern?

The reason I noticed a weird stitch a ways back and was tempted to work back, then frog back to get it right, is because I wrapped the purl stitches the wrong way. At the time I didn't think they looked great when I picked up the wraps but I didn't bother to stop and check my handy knitting question book. If I had done that I would have been reminded that if you are purling and wrap a stitch, you moved the yarn to the back and slip your stitch and move the yarn back to where it needs to be. The opposite of wrapping a knit stitch. So at least I've worked back to that point and wrapped the stitches the correct way. The irony being, I've gotten good enough at reading my knitting (normally) and at dropped a stitch on purpose and working it back up a number of rows if I have twisted a stitch at some point, I should have been able to wrap that stitch around the correct way and work back up to my current row without screwing up everything. But I didn't recognize the wrapped stitch for what it was.

Lesson learned. Everytime something like this happens I just think, ok, now I know what that looks like. This is the journey of knitting, right?

In other news, I picked up a new copy of Erika Knight's Classic Knits from the new books section of my local public library this afternoon. I can only borrow it for two weeks since it's new but I borrowed it anyway. The simplicity of the stuff is nice, I like cables too but I know that if a piece is too complicated I just won't wear it often enough. I'd like to build up my wardrobe of basic pieces. I think that if I put my head down, in two weeks I could do the Silk Shrug (Ravelry link). I'm short of silk so I'm thinking of my Knitpicks Shine Sport which is a drapey cotton-modal blend. Turquoise. Yes, it's the yarn I've suspected of being cursed but I got a couple of balls out this morning thinking I would cast on for the IK Lace Ogee skirt wrap thing tonight, then went to the library and found the Erika Knight book. So maybe it is time to try the shine sport once again, all signs are pointing in that direction.

Hopefully tomorrow--pictures! Of the pullover at least, which I am going to work on tonight while watching Frasier DVDs--another library loaner. happy knitting!

Comments

  1. Ouch. That is *painful* story.

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  2. gahhh! i'm so sorry! i understand the issues KUI (knitting under the influence) can creat. yet i don't learn my lesson. ever. i will try to learn from yours!

    i love those projects you've earmarked!

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