Down, but not out

Hello all.

If you follow me on Twitter then you will already know that Saturday was Not A Good Day To Knit.

Firstly, my challenge shawl. I have been feeling unwell for most of the week with a stomach upset, so hadn’t really felt like knitting much. I knew that the pressure was really on now to get finished so I had knitted like a crazy thing on Thursday night trying to catch up. I had gotten to the second lace repeat and things were going fairly well, and I was really loving the way the shawl looked. But then, when I counted the stitches, one side somehow had six more stitches than the other.

I had no idea what to do other than rip back to the lifeline that I described inserting in my last post. I decided that I would quickly count again before ripping, just to be sure, and as I was counting I noticed a dropped stitch on the side that had less stitches. When I tried to pick it up with my trusty crochet hook, it unraveled a few more rows, but with a lot of muttered cursing I managed to pick it back up. However, I then held up the shawl to try to spot where the stitch count had gone wrong and noticed a whopping error, about 4 rows from the beginning. I actually cried a little from sheer frustration, and realised that I would need to rip the whole thing out, and start again. There was no way on this Earth that I was now going to complete the challenge on time, and I was so frustrated with myself that I couldn’t face casting it back on. I spoke to The Northerner, to tell him that he had won, but he said that he had been thinking that there was no way he could finish his project either, as he had been away with his family for a few days and had forgotten to take anything to work on. After talking it over, we decided to call it a tie.

 

I think that I learned a lot from this project, even though I had to rip out, and would like to share my thoughts. Before I do, I would like to point out that I really love this pattern, it is clear, easy to follow and very well written. All of the mishaps were definitely my own, and not the fault of the pattern writer.

So, this is what I learned:

• I over-estimated my knitting speed. I somehow thought that something knitted in 4 ply would grow as quickly as something knitted in DK. Erm, not quite.
• I over-estimated my skill level. Although I was familiar with most of the techniques in the pattern, I wasn’t fluent with them, which meant that when I tried to knit quickly I quickly got into a mess!
• There were too many new variables. I had new needles in a new material, a new yarn weight, a new type of yarn, new type of pattern and a couple of unfamiliar techniques to contend with, which blew my beginner knitter mind.
• I tried to knit too quickly (partly as a result of overestimating my knitting speed). Being on a deadline added pressure that I just didn’t need.
• I didn’t allow for error. No lifelines, no extra time allowed for illness, or other problems
• I didn’t allow myself to grow. I got frustrated when I made a mistake, which lead to more mistakes, which lead to more frustration. I should have been nicer to myself, I am a beginner after all!

So as you can see I learned a lot! I have ripped the shawl out and put the yarn away for now so I can work on something a little easier to build my skills before trying again. I have some time off work coming up at the end of March, so I would like to pick it up then and work through it, slowly this time.

After that, I decided to pick up another shawl that I had been working on, the Patty shawl from Let’s Knit Magazine 62 (on Ravelry here). Again, this is a great pattern and is really interesting as it is presented both as a chart and as written instructions so is a great way to learn charts if you’re new to it. I had chosen to use a different yarn than called for in the pattern, and unfortunately it just didn’t look right, so I decided to rip that shawl out as well to put the yarn to another use. I plan on returning to this pattern at some point in the future with a different yarn.

The yarn that I ripped out was quickly put to use to cast on the “Age of Brass and Steam Kercheif”. So far I think this looks pretty awesome and is growing quickly (plus I get to use my Knit Pro Symphonie’s yay!!!)

 

You can find the pattern for free on Ravelry here, and my project page is here. The yarn is Sirdar Crofter DK in the Burnett colourway.

So, that’s all for now, I know that this went on a little so thanks for sticking with me! I’m hoping to catch up on FO’s that I haven’t had a chance to post about over the next week so stay tuned.

Happy knitting!

Smug

Currently on the needles I have Val Pierce’s gorgeous Romeo bear (Ravelry entry) which appeared in the February 2013 issue of Let’s Knit! My Dad likes teddy bears so when I saw this adorable little guy, I knew I had to make him as a gift for my Dad’s birthday which is next month. I was super organised and started early to make sure I wouldn’t be rushed, the yarn was dreamy to knit with, and the pattern clear and enjoyable. I was starting to feel pretty smug as I was going to be finished way ahead of time. Well, we all know what happens to smug knitters – we are immediately relieved of our smugness by a disaster of some sort, and in my case it was this:

Yep, I ran out of yarn halfway up the second leg, with ears still to make. That’s what you get for being cocky and not checking your tension even though you know that you knit fairly loosely.

“Still”, I thought, “This isn’t so bad, I can just get more from the shop I bought it from!” Yeah, great idea! Except that they were out of stock. By this point I could feel the world falling in on me as I tried to find another shop that stocked this yarn, and this proved to be challenging. I even briefly considered fashioning a pirate style hat, peg leg and eye patch to cover the lack of yarn, thinking I would rename the bear Bluebeard or something like that. Fortunately I managed to find another supplier who had some stock, and hopefully the different dye lots won’t be too evident. I also hope I have time to finish the project as I will be starting a challenge project on February 1st (details to follow soon!) and will need all my knitting time for that.

I have learned my lesson: never be a smug knitter. The knitting knows.