Knitblogging has saved my sorry knitter's a**.
Why?
Because if I didn't have an outlet to scream about my stupid knitting mistakes, my knitting and my entire stash would have been tossed into the fireplace by now.
What? I can hear you thinking: "There isn't a Renaissance fireplace in all of Europe big enough to burn that woman's stash."
So? What's your point?
Oh, never mind. I don't think I have the ego strength to discuss this with you right at the moment.
I was threading blocking wires through the Birdsfoot scarf. I wondered how to block it viciously, and still retain the scalloping at the edges. I found that if I located the center stitches in the scallops, threaded the wire through that, and pinned the valleys, it might work. So I threaded the wire through the opposite end after finishing the first end.
Wait. I must have twisted the scarf while threading. I untwisted it, laid it flat and looked. What did I see?
Shocked disbelief washed through my stunned knitterbrain. Three repeats before the end, I had switched the wrong side to the right side and the right side to the wrong side.
Burning the scarf and the stash came to mind, briefly. The idea of leaving it as is also muscled its brutish way into the options list. No one would know, and no one would look closely enough at this rustic yarn. Even if suspicion crept into her brain, the nodding knitter would be too polite to say anything.
But since I would know forever and ever (hallelujah! hallelujah!), I have to rip it and reknit. Then the next miserable thought occurred. Did I do it at the end of the scarf OR AT THE BEGINNING?
The only break in this discouraging sequence of events was that it happened at the end of the knitting. Then I silently cursed my compulsive and thorough weaving in of ends, and proceeded to start the backwards progress task.
Is the knitting goddess laughing at me for thinking that I had run out of blogfodder? I have little doubt.
Quit with the the perfectionism. I can BARELY see the issue, even in a close-up photo. Life is too short to be perfect. For that matter, I'm too short to be perfect.
Posted by: Lynn | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 07:09 AM
I agree with Lynn, but this is also an argument for my strategy of weaving in ends after blocking (which is mostly so I don't pull the ends too tight).
Posted by: naomi | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 07:35 AM
Oh Shit.
She is totally having a laugh at your expense. Reminds me of the KSH shrug I started where I knit half of it inside out. And only realized when I was ready to add the sleeves.
Bummer.
Posted by: Anne | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 07:46 AM
It could be worse...the error could be half way back. This little bump will only take you an evening to fix and you'll have the wonderful experience of working with that yarn and pattern again.
Posted by: margene | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 07:51 AM
Oh eff! Well at least it wasn't supposed to be gifted yesterday :-) *ducks and runs*
Posted by: Manise | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 08:01 AM
AUUUUUGH! I feel your pain. I like Margene's "spin" and "silver lining." :)
Posted by: Lisa McGuire | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 09:08 AM
Oh Laurie. I'm so glad it was at the end. I love the marching bird feet.
Posted by: Paula | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 09:13 AM
Well if I said that I couldn't see it you'd know that I was lying. This is why I have a safety pin at the start of the row on garter stitch because I've been there, done that. If it had been further down you could have saved it by snipping a thread, flipping it over and grafting it back together.
Posted by: Caroline M | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 09:31 AM
Phew -- the end. Once it's done, you'll forget the aggravation.
Posted by: Kathy | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Oh crap! I did the same thing on a scarf, about halfway through. Fortunately it was a much smaller scarf on much larger yarn. But that was only one of several things that went wrong with that scarf from hell.
And we won't talk about the fact that I just reknitted the front piece of a cardigan about three times due to stupidity.
I'm glad to hear it was only three repeats.
Posted by: Cheryl S. | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 11:28 AM
Before you go burning stuff all willy-nilly give me a call, ok? I'm pretty sure I can take anything that annoys you off your hands... ;o)
Posted by: JessaLu | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 11:43 AM
NO - don't do it! Can't you just find the spot where you changed the RS to the WS, and snip it there, unravel a row or two, and kitchener the thing back together? Much faster than frogging the whole thing!
Just a thought.
Happy Holidays -
Maria in NY
Posted by: Maria | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 11:45 AM
"But since I would know forever and ever"
That right there is the best reason for ripping and redoing and not accepting anything less than your best efforts. For some people, there is no such thing as Good Enough. I would have (and have done) the exact same thing.
Posted by: June | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Oh geez. I have it when stuff like that happens. I hope it helps to know that we all do crap like that now and again.
Posted by: Carole | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Oh. Oh my. At least you noticed it before you gifted it!
Posted by: elizabeth | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 01:09 PM
If it had to happen, at least it happened in the best possible way it could have. That is truly painful, though it does make me laugh, if only because misery loves company.
Posted by: PumpkinMama | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 01:11 PM
Oh Laurie, so beautiful! So hard to distinguish, even for the eagle-eyed among us! But as you said, you will know, and it will spoil the gift for you. We've all made those mistakes.
It will be so, so beautiful when done, and you'll be happy once you gift it!
Merry Christmas!
Posted by: Jan | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 03:50 PM
Don't you hate it when that happens? And I, must admit, saw it as soon as I scrolled down to the pic. Never made a mistake like that myself! LOL (I'm a fibber) What else can you do but vent and frog. What else can you do but frog and vent. It will be so gorgeous when you are finished. And, you are so brave to share this with the rest of us. I would have hidden it until it was done and then flaunted its beauty.
Posted by: bev | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 04:19 PM
Oh, I so feel that anguish, having been there more times than I can list. And with all that experience, I can tell you that no, knitters are NOT too polite to point out a mistake. In fact, the sorry lot seem to revel in it. LOL So Yes, you have no choice but to ripnreknit.
Posted by: Chris | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 05:25 PM
Oh no ... but at least its timing was good!
Posted by: --Deb | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 05:52 PM
The blog so loves disaster.
Posted by: claudia | Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 09:32 PM
Want a misery loves company story? When I knit my first Rogue, I was so excited as I sewed the shoulder seams (deciding to do the sleeves last), knit the hood with all those fun cables, grafted the top of the hood, and was a good girl and wove in all the ends.
Only then did I discover that, in seaming the shoulders, I'd managed to put a full twist in one of the fronts above the armhole. It ALL had to come out so I could take out the shoulder seam. I believe I may have cried...
We all know the pain.
Posted by: gayle | Wednesday, December 24, 2008 at 06:53 AM
Ok, so maybe it doesn't pass the galloping horseman's test. Do you remember the green lace sweater? If you recall, I painstakingly matched all the lace, and slowly (ever so slowly)and perfectly sewed the entire sleeve backwards. Of course I attached it to the body and weaved in the ends. Isn't this why we do this? For the challenge and sweet success!
Posted by: Connie | Wednesday, December 24, 2008 at 09:13 AM
Speechless. (Well, not really.) Ah, the joy of perfectionism in knitting. I would probably have frogged and reknit, too, since it is a gift. If it were for myself... ignore.
Posted by: kmkat | Thursday, December 25, 2008 at 02:32 PM
I love it - a great mistake!! I would have gone through the exact same process as you....and ended up reknitting too!
Posted by: Pat | Friday, December 26, 2008 at 10:34 AM
OMG! I vote on snipping it and kitchener stitching, but I haven't done it before, and would be petrified. OR you can consider it that you designed it that way for when it's knotted around your neck and both right sides are exposed.
Posted by: Alicia | Monday, December 29, 2008 at 01:35 PM
I have had to unweave ends a few times too many myself. But...happy ending....and that's what counts.
Posted by: Sharon | Tuesday, December 30, 2008 at 10:32 AM
gack.
I just hate when things like that happen.
If that had been mine, I would have tossed it into a corner and hoped that the cats used it to sleep on :-)
Posted by: Teyani | Tuesday, December 30, 2008 at 12:15 PM