Blue

As I was rummaging through projects this morning to take photos, I noticed a striking similarity.

Really, I’m generally more eclectic in color choices than this would lead you to believe.

From the top: Baktus, in a lovely merino silk blend DK; Evenstar Mystery Shawl; and my latest spinning project. This is Yarn Chef fiber, I’m too lazy to get up and find the band, but it’s a silk blend of some sort. I’ll post more about it some other time.

I had a little dust-up with those two knitting projects the past few days, both stupid bone-head knitting mistakes. Making an error and having to tink back on a near-cobweb weight shawl is a little more understandable, at least. I got stuck on one patterned row where the stitch markers shifted one stitch sideways all along the row. On one repeat my count was off. I counted, recounted, tried to figure out where the error was, and finally tinked back the whole patterned row, then back the preceding plain knit row until I got to the repeat where the count was off (almost all the way around the row, I might add). By the time I got it tinked back, the count was now right. I counted, recounted, said a few choice swear words, and proceeded forward again, holding my breath and counting every single blasted repeat as I went. There was no error, I just think I can’t count. Or perhaps one of the stitch markers had migrated temporarily under a stitch. Or who knows, the Knitting Goddess might be trying to teach me a lesson. There wasn’t even bourbon involved in this one, I swear.

The blue scarf mistake is really bone-headed, though, almost enough so that I don’t want to put it out here for all of you to laugh at me. I figure it’s my civic duty, however. If you click on over to the pattern, you’ll see that, after the initial set up rows, it’s a simple 8 row pattern repeat. Simple, simple, simple. I got 24 repeats done correctly earlier this week, did a couple more repeats, then picked it up to knit again yesterday. The repeat basically is the lace yarn over row with 3 garter stitch ridges in between. On the last two repeats, there were only 2 garter stitch rows. Damn. Out it came, and I reknitted another two repeats, and noticed that I still only had 2 garter ridges. Out it came again. I’m embarrassed to say that I did this drill one more time before I figured out the mistake.

If you’ll look at the pattern, the last two rows, rows 7 & 8, are plain knit. Because of the way the pattern formats, it printed out on two pages, with rows 7 & 8 on the second page. You can see where this is going, can’t you? I did the first 24 repeats with all 8 pattern rows, then inexplicably just changed the pattern to a 6 row repeat, omitting those last 2 rows. I figured this out last night during about the quintillionth NCIS rerun I watched, at about 1 AM, and just cracked up. If I was Tony DiNozzo, Mark Harmon would have smacked me hard on the back of the head. It’s now fixed, and I’ve hand-written those last two rows on the first page so the pattern is all together, and hopefully I won’t do that again.

It’s late, I’m off to bed. I’ll try to find some other idiotic knitting goofs to regale you with next time!

Author: Lorette

My name is Lorette. I learned to knit in 1999, and took up spinning in 2009. I'm a physician specializing in internal medicine, and live in the Pacific Northwest. Enjoy my blog!

12 thoughts on “Blue”

  1. Ah – but you make us feel so much better when we make some boneheaded mistake. And you know we will. All the head slapping in the world won’t prevent it.

  2. It’s nice to know that smart people do these things. One gets an instruction (mistaken) into the head, and it’s hard to get it out. Just made a second sweater sleeve all wrong. I didn’t reread the instructions for the second sleeve and forgot an essential phrase (which altered everything). I didn’t notice till I proudly laid the sweater out, and one sleeve was way bigger than the other.

  3. At first glance I thought no those beautiful knitted pieces aren’t on the ground. Then I saw the reflection of the cone. I think I need a nap.

  4. There was a bit of good-humored, NCIS-style head slapping going on at my knitting group tonight, too. I think it comes with the hobby.

  5. I’m so glad I’m not the only one to mess up a lace project, tink, re-knit, tink again, re-knit, tink while changing the color of the air, re-knit, and put it away for 3 months.

    By the way, love the blue. Hmmm…got off the PINK binge, huh? LOL

  6. Of course I’m loving the blues. I’ve been in a pale blue phase too recently. Not sure why.

    Been there with those counting issues. Just ripped back three rows on my current lace. And it doesn’t even count in my year’s yarn tally to have done it twice. Seems like something unfair in that.

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