Monday, August 20, 2007

So Many Mistakes. So Little Time

Only negative progress this weekend. Sweet Indulgence spent the weekend playing among the lily pads.

There's no excuse. I know better. I may have been knitting for only a little over a year, but I do know better. I did it anyway.

I applied chart logic to written pattern directions. It seems I need to state the obvious to myself: Charts only show the pattern rows, so you double the number of rows for any given charted line, one pattern row and one purl back row. Four rows in a chart equal 8 rows of knitting. This is not how written instructions work. If a written pattern says "repeat four rows" it really means just those 4 rows.

Sadly, knitting twice as many rows for the waist decreases is not the error that has me most annoyed. The infuriating mistake was the correction. I painstakingly ran a lifeline to save most of the work. I ripped back, restored the needle, replaced the stitch markers and did the knitting correctly - with the yarn I had just frogged.


Yarn that has been knit up stretches. Did I cut off the ravelled yarn and set it aside to rest -- or, should it prove recalcitrant, to have a nice soak --and get rewound? Did I give it a chance to return to its natural, or at least a somewhat less stretched state while I did the smart thing and joined a fresh skein?

In a word, no.

Do I have a lot more yarn left at the end of my final row than I should have?

Well, maybe not a lot. But enough. Significantly more than the 5 or 6 inch tail that I had left before I joined the new skeins.

Sweet Indulgence will be sent back to gambol with the tadpoles. I'm going to end this whole project monogamy thing right here, right now. I'm thinking about an Einstein coat.

Maybe the brilliance will rub off on me while I knit?

14 comments:

Susan Luni said...

You know, I would have just said, "Yay, extra yarn I didn't pay for!" and kept on knitting. :)
Seriously, I applaud your extra effort. I will be a very nice robe. I looked at the pattern after your last post. It actually says that the modeled robe is 42" long; not that their pattern produces a 42" long robe. Interesting distinction. :/

Megan said...

Project monotony is over-rated! Or maybe I have project schitsophrenia (sp?). I have at least 5 projects going right now and I just casted on for another "quickie"!

Megan said...

Oh and how about another shameless ballot stuff!

Cheesehead With Sticks said...

Bummer about the frogging. I too would have just said, "oh yeah! extra yarn!" And I probably woulda regretted it later maybe and never understood why something looked weird?

Project manogomy is SOOOO over-rated. I would never finish anything if I couldn't work on other things. Speaking of, I'm binding off your dishrag in 43 stitches :)

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

I should warn you not all chart knitting follows that logic. Sometimes the chart shows both rows and you have to read back and forth. Just a heads up!

Shelly said...

I LOVE the term "negative progress."

Cheesehead With Sticks said...

Stuff. Stuff. Stuff.

So, how's the weather by you?

Cheesehead With Sticks said...

Stuff. Stuff. Stuff.

It's still raining here for the 5th day.

Cheesehead With Sticks said...

stuff. Stuff. Stuff.

Which is really getting on my nerves.

Cheesehead With Sticks said...

stuff. stuff. stuff.

That's about all I have to say for now.

Cheesehead With Sticks said...

Stuff. Stuff. Stuff.

Besides, have fun knitting that dishrag today! And, watch what you sit on. You'll get it later :)

Megan said...

How about some last minute stuffing?

Megan said...

I can get a few more shots at this right?

Megan said...

Boy! I hope this one doesn't miss!