I've been knitting away on Pacific, and making halfway decent time.
Considering this is the first major stranded color project I've done since the Goober was a baby. Last Saturday (like, a week and two days ago), I noticed this:
It's supposed to be FOUR.
Then, this last Saturday (two days ago), I bit the bullet, ovaried up, and tore out five or six rows to fix the problem.
KNITTERS: Do not try this with slippery fibers!!! I got away with the ripping out like this because the yarn is untreated wool and sticks to itself. If you tried this with silk (or maybe even superwash), you'd wind up with a pile of tangled yarn and starting over from scratch.
I was patting myself on the back. By last evening, I'd knit back up all the stuff I'd have to rip out, I'd remained calm, I had not gotten out any of the zillion knives we have laying around, and the day was saved. I went to establish a new pattern row, and then... there it was.
Fixing it would mean tearing back everything I did this weekend and fixing the fix, AGAIN.
I walked away. Well, after screaming a little. But I walked away. And I slept on it. And this morning?
This morning, I woke up, and decided fuck this, I'll duplicate-stitch that motherfucker in there.
10 comments:
I was just thinking duplicate stitch.
What is that other thing you're working on? Colors are amazing.
I was thinking duplicate stitch too, good call.
I was literally gearing up to suggest duplicate stitching when you said that. Obviously the medication is not impeding your ability to fudge solutions.
I will admit that I was thinking duplicate stitch too. I don't think there are very many stranded things that I would tear out more than once.
Blue and white looks so good together.
Brilliant solutions both. As another on vast quantities of meds, I say you make me proud!.
Duplicate stitch indeed. As my great-grandpa, Charlie Gerst, would say, "a man running for his life will never notice" which in layman's terms means "don't sweat the small stuff." Knit on!
I use the galloping horse test: if an error won't be noticed from the sppedy steed's back, i don't fix it. But I admire those who do.
Heck, I just call it a whimsical design element and knit on. If you want it done with machine-like precision, do it with a machine. I prefer a human element in my handwork.
A method i use when making mistakes like that in stranded knitting in the Alafoss Icelandic patterns, is to only uhmmm, take the affected stitches off, and only unravelling down to the part thats wrong, then reknitting it back up, keeping the rest of the stitches on the wire so they dont unravel.
Saves you having to unravel whole rows, and can be done if you havent worked decreases/increases on the wire.
(it can be done with increases/decreases, but thats for when youre an expert, trust me)
Think of it like you would if you were knitting a sock, if you took one of the 4 needles out, and only unraveled the stitches that particular needle held, with a little practice, you can unravel and stitch right back up, moving the stitches you need to, to fix the mistake.
Things to watch out for are:
Pattern repeats.
Knitting a row too little/too short.
loosing stitches.
And the best one, knitting it all back up repeating the mistake you were trying to fix in the first place.
(Ps i primarily knit unspun icelandic wool, i dont know if that makes it easier or harder to use this method, compared to spun yarn)
I only just spotted this, but when you have to backtrack--thread a needle through the stitches along the row where you need to unravel to--so the loops are already on a needle and you don't have to pick them up when you're done pulling out the stitches. I have yet to try it, but it seems like genius.
As for mistakes, I believe Native Americans add a flaw to woven rugs on purpose. Think it had something to do with not angering the gods? And Ariadne was turned to a spider for weaving perfectly.
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