I'm Reviewing the Situation

I actually had any number of titles for this post. "Fools rush in." "Tonto, Don't Go to Town." "Friends Don't Let Friends Experiment With Yarn." "Don't Try This At Home." Oh well. Someone has to be the horrible lesson. Might as well be me. Time spent learning isn't entirely wasted, right?

Let me take you on a tour of my weekend knitting. Going clockwise from upper left.

1) Like any good scientist, I know the importance of a control. So swatch #1 is knit strictly according to pattern. You can tell by the little tag of yarn sprouting from the middle where I did the cut and slide around thing. 2) My first clever thought. Purl back on row 10, follow the pattern exactly from there on. It gave me a wider break between garter stitches, and the stockinette on the wrong side. 3) Purl back on row 9, knit row 10, continue according to pattern. This got the stockinette back on the right side, but the break in the garter stitch on the wrong side. 4) Purl the first 9 rows, return to pattern with knitting row 10. This is what the right side of that looked like. I know it's the right side based on the tail from my cast-on.

But.

Look at the 4th swatch from the wrong side. The experiment is on the left, the control on the right.


Note the tails from the respective cast-ons.

Look at that.
The break between the stitches at the right place and the right width. The stockinette stitch on the same side as the break in the garter stitches.

And no cutting the yarn.

I would love to take credit for this idea, but honesty compels me to admit, it was Diane's. The same Diane who pointed out the obvious about my note on removing my stitch marker. This is why it's important to have coffee with your knitting friends. Credit given where credit is due.

Of course, I had to purl the whole first nine rows. The longest rows in the whole square. I hate purling. The question now is, which do I hate more? The 160 ends, or the 610 extra purl stitches per square?

"I think I'd better think it out again."

P.S. I admit to being childishly excited that someone besides Diane read my blog, so (in case Kathleen ever comes back), I'm working with the "Weird Partial Garter Miter" from Kay's post on Mason-Dixon Knitting titled "Clip 'n Save for Miterheads." Not the mitered square from the book.