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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Knitting in the wrong direction I wish I could say I had become adept at knitting backwards; it would be a great help with the current entrelac project. Unfortunately, I'm UNknitting. AKA tinking. AKA picking out twelve bloody rows of 91 stitches each. The feather and fan pattern on my baby blanket has 17 stitches in each pattern repeat, and on one of the rows, as I absent-mindedly counted them, I realized I had only counted 16. No problem, I thought--the stitch marker at one end or the other had probably worked itself one stitch over again. That has happened a couple of times--they're tiny rings of flexible vinyl, and occasionally one of them will flex and twist itself right under the stitch it's supposed to be marking.But no. There really were only 16 stitches between the markers. I flipped the blanket over so I could check the right side, and sure enough, I had missed a yarn-over in the last pattern row. Worse than that, however, there was a glaring problem with the pattern several rows back. Twelve rows back, to be precise--three repeats of the four-row pattern. Was it visible enough that I really had to tink back that far? I didn't dare just rip it out. I'd do that with stockinette and trust to my skill in picking up any lost stitches, but not with a lacy pattern like this. But I couldn't get my brain around the amount of time it would take to tink back one stitch at a time, not that far.In the end, I just did it. The blanket had been perfect up to that point, 30 inches of beautiful Feather and Fan. I don't know whether the recipient would ever have noticed, but I couldn't stand for it not to be perfect. So I picked it out, one stitch at a time, until I got back to the point where I had messed up, started forward again, and then discovered another mistake. Fortunately, it was in the same row as the first mistake--I was obviously having a bad day! So now it's all fixed and I'm knitting in the right direction again, and with total paranoia counting every single stitch between every single marker. Re the entrelac--this has to be the most frustrating project I've ever attempted. Not because it's entrelac; that's easy. But this yarn just didn't know what it wanted to be. I tried Branching Out from Knitty, I tried one of the numerous variations of the drop-stitch lace pattern, I tried an Estonian lace pattern from Eugen Beugler, nothing worked. It's a hand-dyed lace weight merino, lovely to hold and work with, but 1) the color segments are so short that no matter what I tried, the colors just mushed up together, and 2) these are not my colors. Not. My. Colors. Orange and green were my high school colors, and I wore them proudly at the time, but no one has ever caught me wearing them since then.I finally appealed for help on one of the lists I'm on, and someone suggested entrelac. That's really the only feasible choice for a yarn with very short color repeats. It still took multiple tries to find a combination of block size and blocks per row that would give me something acceptable. I guess I should have just put the yarn up for trade on Ravelry, but it was a gift and I felt obligated to make something with it. I still don't like the colors and it still isn't pooling as I had hoped it would, but this is the best I've gotten from it so far. So it's going to be a six-stitch entrelac block with eight blocks across. Entrelac goes quickly, so I hope I'll be done with it soon and never have to look at it again. It'll go in the emergency gift box along with a couple of other things I forced myself to finish but can't imagine ever wearing. posted by Liz @ 8:15 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me INTERNET TRAFFIC REPORT SOCIAL SECURITY CLOCK Which one has the Crisis ?! Plastic bags consumed this year: KNITTING BLOGS A Stitch in Time Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-SUFFICIENCY andINDEPENDENT LIVING -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Food Storage Made Easy The Modern Homestead Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 BUTTONS Join | Previous | List | Next Feedjit Live Blog Stats
I wish I could say I had become adept at knitting backwards; it would be a great help with the current entrelac project. Unfortunately, I'm UNknitting. AKA tinking. AKA picking out twelve bloody rows of 91 stitches each. The feather and fan pattern on my baby blanket has 17 stitches in each pattern repeat, and on one of the rows, as I absent-mindedly counted them, I realized I had only counted 16. No problem, I thought--the stitch marker at one end or the other had probably worked itself one stitch over again. That has happened a couple of times--they're tiny rings of flexible vinyl, and occasionally one of them will flex and twist itself right under the stitch it's supposed to be marking.But no. There really were only 16 stitches between the markers. I flipped the blanket over so I could check the right side, and sure enough, I had missed a yarn-over in the last pattern row. Worse than that, however, there was a glaring problem with the pattern several rows back. Twelve rows back, to be precise--three repeats of the four-row pattern. Was it visible enough that I really had to tink back that far? I didn't dare just rip it out. I'd do that with stockinette and trust to my skill in picking up any lost stitches, but not with a lacy pattern like this. But I couldn't get my brain around the amount of time it would take to tink back one stitch at a time, not that far.In the end, I just did it. The blanket had been perfect up to that point, 30 inches of beautiful Feather and Fan. I don't know whether the recipient would ever have noticed, but I couldn't stand for it not to be perfect. So I picked it out, one stitch at a time, until I got back to the point where I had messed up, started forward again, and then discovered another mistake. Fortunately, it was in the same row as the first mistake--I was obviously having a bad day! So now it's all fixed and I'm knitting in the right direction again, and with total paranoia counting every single stitch between every single marker. Re the entrelac--this has to be the most frustrating project I've ever attempted. Not because it's entrelac; that's easy. But this yarn just didn't know what it wanted to be. I tried Branching Out from Knitty, I tried one of the numerous variations of the drop-stitch lace pattern, I tried an Estonian lace pattern from Eugen Beugler, nothing worked. It's a hand-dyed lace weight merino, lovely to hold and work with, but 1) the color segments are so short that no matter what I tried, the colors just mushed up together, and 2) these are not my colors. Not. My. Colors. Orange and green were my high school colors, and I wore them proudly at the time, but no one has ever caught me wearing them since then.I finally appealed for help on one of the lists I'm on, and someone suggested entrelac. That's really the only feasible choice for a yarn with very short color repeats. It still took multiple tries to find a combination of block size and blocks per row that would give me something acceptable. I guess I should have just put the yarn up for trade on Ravelry, but it was a gift and I felt obligated to make something with it. I still don't like the colors and it still isn't pooling as I had hoped it would, but this is the best I've gotten from it so far. So it's going to be a six-stitch entrelac block with eight blocks across. Entrelac goes quickly, so I hope I'll be done with it soon and never have to look at it again. It'll go in the emergency gift box along with a couple of other things I forced myself to finish but can't imagine ever wearing.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
INTERNET TRAFFIC REPORT
SOCIAL SECURITY CLOCK
KNITTING BLOGS
A Stitch in Time Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-SUFFICIENCY andINDEPENDENT LIVING
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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