Wednesday, 16 July 2014

A Knitter's Worst Enemy?

When I think of all the (knitting) mistakes I've made - things that have held up my projects, required tinking or frogging, that have driven me completely mad - I estimate at least ninety percent of them have one thing in common - they were on simple projects that I was really enjoying and I got complacent. 

It's rarely complex or fiddly things that have me stumped or cause a problem. This is partly because I tend not to knit too many complex or fiddly things, but mostly because when I make anything more complicated it gets undivided attention. I don't choose anything like that when I'm tired (which is most of the time) and don't carry them around in my handbag. On the other hand, my 'complacent' knits are carted about with minimal care and popped in and out of bags with abandon. 

Why am I telling you all this? A few days ago I showed you the start of my Pebble Beach Shawlette a lovely pattern which definitely falls into the 'simple and really enjoyable category' and I've been merrily picking it up and putting it down since Sunday. It's been to a coffee shop, to a restaurant, and in at least four handbags in it's short life. Then last night, as I sat watching TV, I realised that I'd missed a yarn over on a previous row!! It's not a big deal, but failing light at the wrong end of the day meant I didn't want to start ripping out rows. I've been busy today and have book club tonight. So the shawl is stalled. My enemy 'Complacency' has struck again.

Lesson: I really must start to count stitches at the end of pattern rows, however simple they are. 
Complacency: a knitter's worst enemy?
Please tell me I'm not the only one to make stupid mistakes like this!?

10 comments:

  1. i make this mistake all the time and i come across a way to correct it without tinking back :on the row back i pick up the strand between the two stitches, just like when working a m1 but instead of working the stitch to make it a invisible increase i work it the opposite which makes it into a yarn over on the row below.

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  2. Oh me I a make mistakes ALL the time, usually doing a pearl instead of a knit and adding extra stitches on LOL. I don't know how I manage it but I do, on the positive at least the piece is individual to you :-)

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  3. Usually I have to start three times to get progress on a lace project. But I do have to say, on the Afternoon Tea shawl I was good and counted when I should and I really took my time and paid attention. Otherwise mind you there be a lot of @#$&%!!! spewing from my mouth.

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  4. Don't tink back entire rows for that! You can fix it fairly painlessly but dropping the one stitch that connects all the way back to your ssk, then redo your ssk and left the bar between it and the next stitch to make a makeshift YO, then ladder these two new stitches back up to the top. This is one of those things that is much easier to show than to describe...

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  5. Aw man. I just realized I had dropped a stitch at the end of the round and so it was all funky at the join. What in tarnation did I do? Sheesh. Real lame. Frogged and redo.

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  6. No your not alone, I did the exact same thing two evenings ago and instead of spending the evening merrily knitting a few rounds on my project and adding a few inches to it I had to tinker with it and get the yarn over in, which I did without having to frog! yayyyy, it was the only highlight to the evenings work.

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  7. Definitely not it's always the yarn overs as well - those pesky little yarn overs :) Lovely meeting you on Sat x

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  8. Gosh exactly the same thing has happened to me with my Pebble Beach shawl, it is sooo infuriating!

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  9. So glad to see I'm not alone! I had completed a Bateaux Mouches scarf, woven in the ends and blocked it only to notice a dropped stitch. Time to frog...

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  10. Sooo not alone! Never do anything complicated whilst watching tv, you WILL make a mistake or miss a vital scene on the programme and then annoy your kids by asking what is going on (apparently, of course I would never do such a thing!)

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