Tuesday, July 22, 2014

The Night I Cried

I'm sitting on the back deck after a long day at work. The Husband grilled for supper (yay!) and the temperature outside has cooled down to a lovely 74 degrees with a slight breeze. I'm listening to the sound of some distant thunder and couldn't be more content right now unless someone gave me $5000, a shopping cart or two, and turned me loose in the WEBS yarn warehouse. In fact, it's almost too perfect an evening to tell you about...the night I cried.

Yeah, that was last night. Why, you ask? Well, remember that lacy pullover, Midsummer Aran, that I've been working on for what seems like forever? I'd been doing so well on it lately. Went from about 4 inches completed to this:


That's actually about 8 inches of progress

Then last night, something...happened.

I wish I knew what. Seriously, I have no idea how I managed it, but I dropped a stitch or two. Turns out it was just one, but I didn't know that at the time. And I cried. Well, not immediately. First, I stared at the thing in disbelief. Then I counted the stitches and was two short, but didn't know if that's because I didn't yarn over when I dropped the stitch or if I'd dropped two. Next, I took off my glasses and covered my eyes with my hands, hoping when I removed them, the whole thing would have been just a bad dream. It wasn't.

Then I cried. While The Husband looked on and mumbled something about thinking my hobby was too stressful, I cried. I set the whole thing aside and cried some more. I'm going to have to rip this freaking beast back to the ribbing and start all over again. Why did I ever decide to make this stupid thing anyway? It's not even that pretty. I should just frog it and get on with my life. But this thing really is so pretty. I've bloody well ruined it. Waaaaahhhhh....

Yeah, that's pretty much how it went.

Once I calmed down, determination took over. I found the loop perilously hanging there from where I'd dropped the stitch and put a marker through it to hold it. I began to tink back, not knowing how many rows I'd have to un-knit before I got back to that stitch. Turns out it was just one row I lost. The universe righted itself again and all was well.

Of course, two rows later, I ended up with one extra stitch. Yes, folks, I'm just that stinking good.  I'm gonna have to tink back again, but hey, an extra stitch is a lot less scary than dropping one.  

In other news, remember this cake of sock yarn?



I've decided to turn it into a pair of Scott Base Socks by Sarah Ronchetti. You all know by now that I love Sarah's designs, especially her socks, so I've got my pattern at the ready. Woo hoo!

Lisa

14 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this! I think we have all had moments like those. At least you are catching the mistakes before they are 17 rows back!

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  2. OH NO!!! SO pleased you hadn't gotten too far when you discovered that dropped stitch. I have also cried over knitting!

    And thanks for the comment about my sock patterns, I look forward to seeing yours :D

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  3. Some cry, some throw it out of the window. I just go into a stunned silence when something like that happens. Well done for being methodical and sorting it out.

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    1. I was tempted to throw it for sure! I've not had too many projects drive me to tears (at least not since I was a beginnig knitter) but this one has gone so slowly, I thought I'd croak if I had to start over!

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  4. Its one thing to pick up a dropped stitch in stockinette or some other simple stitch but its quite another to accomplish that in a complex lace and cable pattern. Good for you for figuring it out and saving all that work!

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    1. Thanks Alison! Yes, I enjoy how lace knitting is not boring, but when it goes wrong, it goes terribly wrong... :-/

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  5. Your story is the reason I avoid knitting lace the same way people avoid things like war zones and outbreaks of ebola.

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  6. OH, goodness. How horrible. I'm glad that you didn't have to rip it back to the ribbing. That's a silver lining moment, if I ever heard one. Scott Base socks will be a good project to work on in between sessions of your lace. I love the Scott Base pattern too!

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    1. I'm excited to start the socks, but I can't seem to pull myself away from the pullover to cast them on! Soon, very soon!

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  7. Well done for holding it together and going back. I think it looks very pretty by the way. Love the colour of the new yarn!

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    1. Thanks, Lucy! The yarn is Elbeth Lavold's Hempathy in the colorway mustard. I don't often choose a color close to the designer's choice, but I ended up loving the color!

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