Find the Mistake!

Working on my afghan last week, I was dismayed to discover that I made make a mistake across 4 stitches about 14” down from my current row.  I had knit when I should have purled.  Once I found the mistake, my next step was to decide what to do about it. 

 

My first thought was to undo the stitches and reknit back up.  I quickly rejected that idea for a couple of reasons.  First, between my current row and the problem row, there was a 6” section of stitches with lots of yarn overs.  I know it’s a lack of skill/practice on my part but I can never successfully stitch back up so you can’t see it. 

 

The next option was frogging all 14” and just reknitting it.  Although I am willing to do it if necessary, I hate the thoughts of losing all those hours of work.  Especially since I’m also dealing with project boredom right now. 

 

I decided to see if I could hide the offending stitches with a little bit of yarn.  Since the mistake was only noticeable on one side of the fabric, I decided to give this idea a try.  Basically, I took a small section of yarn and wrapped the stitches to mimic the purl bump that should have been there.  Foolishly, I did not take a before picture.  You can see from the picture, my idea was successful.  I will film a video showing exactly how I did this fix and post it to my YouTube Channel, Yarn Skills.  To my eyes, the mistake is easy to spot in this picture but on the afghan, it is next to impossible to see.  I will never be completely happy knowing the mistake is there but I can live with it.   

 

Inheritance – Knitting and Crochet Treasure Trove

A friend of the family recently passed away after a long illness.  She was very talented at both knitting and crochet.  Her work is exceptionally good with a skill level that I can only hope to obtain one day.  At one point in her life, she even owned a yarn shop.  

Now that she is gone, I have her knitting and crochet items.  Needles, yarn, patterns books, tools, and a few gauge swatches.  Some items are newer, others are vintage.  But I am thrilled to have them all.  My favorite item is the 3-ring binder full of patterns in sheet protectors.  There are a few of the free patterns that you can get at Hobby Lobby in the yarn aisle – the ones on a pad in front of a certain yarn.  The oldest is from the early 80’s and has her comments on it.  Others are from yarn shops that no longer exist.  It is interesting to see which patterns she saved.  A few she saved for only a portion of a project.  One is for a child’s sweater and there is a handwritten note to convert the yoke portion of the pattern to an adult size.  After seeing that comment, I’m looking at all patterns with new eyes.

 

Other items fill out my own collection.  I now have a copy of The Magic of Shetland Lace Knitting by Elizabeth Lovick.  It’s a book I’ve wanted for quite a while but have been too cheap to buy, thinking that I could never knit such delicate fabrics.  I am itching to pull out some of my lace yarn and get to work but no more WIPs. 

 

I also got a couple of sets of knit blocking combs.  Another item I’ve wanted for a long time, but I already own blocking wires and pins.  I couldn’t justify buying yet another blocking accessory.  Now I need to educate myself on what types of projects they are best suited for.

 

As for needles, I now have several pairs of needles in sizes 1 – 4.  There are a few pairs of straights and lots of circulars.  Before now, I never owned needles in these sizes.  My Denise interchangeable sets don’t have these super small sizes and when I was in a shop, I was never sure which sizes/lengths to get so I would tell myself I would pick them up later.  Of course, that never happened. 

 

I am very grateful to have received her stash.  And when I’m no longer able to stitch, I will be sure that I pay my stash forward to some else who loves playing with yarn.