A UFO in knitting is an unfinished object. Lots of knitters have them--those projects that sit on the needles forever. My last UFO was an afghan. I did eventually finish it. It only took me six years.
Last Monday I mentioned the lightweight sweater I started ages ago. (I looked it up on Ravelry. I started it in October of 2013.) I started working on it again. And things were going pretty well.
After all the mistakes I made with the gauge swatch, I wanted to be cautious with the actual project. For the first time in my knitting life, I started using lifelines. (A lifeline is a strand of yarn strung through a row of stitches. It's a place to rip back to if major mistakes were made, a way of keeping the knitter from having to rip the whole thing out and start over.)
This, of course, made no difference for the two years when I didn't touch the thing. And after moving my lifeline up the project, I began to wonder if I really needed it. After 10 rows or so, I started to feel like I was getting the hang of the stitch.
So, I pulled the lifeline from the knitting...
You know what happened next. I know you do.
The bottom brackets show what the stitches are supposed to look like. It should look the same in the top brackets. "Should". Doesn't.
On the bright side, I have become an expert and laddering back to fix errors. And, I had gotten the feel for the stitch pattern, so I knew how to fix it without having to start over.
It was just one panel that was easily findable. And I only had to rip out three rows.
I used a couple double pointed needles, recaptured the twelve stitches, reknit those three rows. Oh, did I mention that I repeat the stitch pattern ten times. And, naturally, I knit it wrong that entire row, so I had to do this fixing procedure ten times.
You'd think I'd be more careful. Well, maybe from now on?
And that's fixed. If you scroll between the first and last image, you'll see the difference in between the top brackets. So, it's all good now.
No, I'm not dropping a new lifeline. I think I proved that I can fix the stupid errors I'm making. I just hope that this is the...
Nope. Not going to say it. Not going to jinx myself.
What stupid mistakes have you made lately? Anything easily fixable?
Glad you found a way to fix it. Or at least the urge to do so.
ReplyDeleteYou have far more patience than I would have had; LOL. We'd be shelving the project permanently at this point I think. Glad you did get it fixed!
ReplyDeletebetty
That's a pretty stitch.
ReplyDeleteIt is. I found it in a stitch dictionary.
DeleteI'm chuckling out here. UFO has taken on a whole new set of possibilities. Hope you do finish this one.
ReplyDeleteWe also use WIP plus a few other terms that are meant to be funny.
DeleteGlad you didn't have to start it all the way over. Looks pretty!
ReplyDeleteYeah, if I had to start over completely... I don't want to think about it.
DeleteThat is going to be a beautiful sweater. I just don't think I would have the patience! But I have fond memories of my mom knitting. Or crocheting. Or whatever it's called!!
ReplyDeleteThis is knitting. It's easy for me to tell the difference. Did your mom use two needles or one hook? Two needles=knitting. One hook=crochet.
DeleteI think just by thinking it you may have jinxed yourself. That's how it always works for me anyway :P. Oh well, you can obviously fix it later. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteAw, don't be too hard on yourself. You are an amazing artist, as well as teacher. Maybe they are intertwined? Dealing with challenging students must be as much art as science. Be well!
ReplyDeleteNeedle arts, perhaps.
DeleteIt's so frustrating when you have to frog. Needlework shouldn't be a source of stress - maybe that's why I haven't touched any of my WIPS in years. I'm almost afraid to look...Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI don't normally knit anything that's beyond my capabilities. This stitch pattern ended up taking me longer to learn for some reason.
DeletePatterns like that are the worst to mess up. At least you didn't have to go back far in yours.
ReplyDeleteThey are. It took me the longest time before I could read the knitting in this one.
DeleteThis looks so complex to me but it shows that you don't give up...even if you put it away for a while
ReplyDeleteThat's a good life lesson there, I think.
DeleteMistakes? Like forgetting your anniversary? I generally do some simple boo-boo once or twice a week. Often easily remedied, but occasionally not.
ReplyDeleteBarbara from Life & Faith in Caneyhead
Hi Liz - sometimes we have enough of something ... but as you've shown can always come back to it. Perseverance is an essential in life ... I need to settle and get on with things ... bloomers keep happening! Live and learn ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI can understand that really easy, I have lots of unfinished objects. A couple of crochet things, paintings, and other things. I keep them thinking I will get to them but some I never do finish! Looks like that is complex and I am not sure I would finish it....let along even start it! Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI guess it depends on how long they remain unfinished.
DeleteI'm impressed with both of them, honestly.
ReplyDeleteAs for errors, I'm in a new position at work this year, and I feel like I make tiny errors often. Luckily, all fixable, so far. Of course, it all makes more work. Hopefully I'm learning from my mistakes.
We all make tiny errors every day. That's how we learn.
DeleteThat requires a lot of patience! And I love that meaning of UFO.
ReplyDeleteKnitters have a sense of humor. There are all sorts of funny terms used.
DeleteVery impressive. I love the way you teach the reader what to look for and understand.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It's hard to see unless you know what you're looking for, and many of the visitors to this blog aren't knitters.
DeleteWell done for fixing it. I think that would've really tried my patience.
ReplyDeleteI recently knit a little dinosaur but I messed up the decrease instructions and decreased every row instead of every other or fourth row or something. So he ended up with a pathetic little stumpy tail.
Luckily toys are fairly forgiving of mistakes and it's more of a character quirk than a design flaw.
Now I want to see how that turned out.
DeleteOh no but it sure looks nice now :) I've had flub ups with my hand lettering but I'm still learning and just go with it most of the time :)
ReplyDelete