My knitting mojo is off to a good start in 2018. It is too bad I don't have anything to show for all my time as I just unravelled my current project and am about to start over.
I am knitting Iris Schreier's Lazy Days Tunic and I am really enjoying the process of knitting again. The yarns are ArtYarns' Merino Cloud and Beaded Silk and Sequins and I should have enough to knit both the tunic and the matching shawl. Rather than the lilac shown, I'm knitting mine in Beet Red,
Unfortunately I messed up, and not for the first time. I originally started this in December but my mind wasn't focused enough and I couldn't maintain consistent gauge so I put it aside and started over this January. I still couldn't get gauge, even after trying several sizes of needle and several types of needles -- wood, metal, etc. I did manage to get row gauge, which the pattern states is especially important, but my stitch gauge is off but 1/2 stitch per inch, which meant that I had redo the math for the pattern before I started.
I was knitting, pretty consistently and successfully I thought, until yesterday. I took my knitting with me when I went to get a pedicure but I forgot to take the pattern. I thought I could wing it, and I almost did, I knew I was in the part where I was squaring off the shape of the piece, and I thought I had the pattern down (I did), but I didn't realize that I was supposed to decrease stitches on one side (the sequined side), and increase on the other to maintain a consistent edge. In retrospect this makes sense because of the way the pattern is knit on the bias, but I was tired and relaxed and obviously all my mental neurons were not firing adequately, at least in terms of sweater math.
I ended up with a funny little jog, and I knew I'd have to rip back a few rows. I also knew there was an error further down, where I had somehow stopped purling in the middle of the row, and there is a gap in the ridged pattern, kind of in the middle lower left of the top photo above. I was just going to live with it, keep it as a little intentional imperfection.
But then, when I laid the sweater out on the floor I saw that I got my sides reversed on a whole section of the bottom of the sweater, and it looked terrible, purls where there should be knits, no consistent pattern to the spacing between ridges. Obviously the whole thing needed to be ripped out. And so I ripped. It proved to be a little tricky, those sequins catch and snag, so I had to be mindful.
I am excited about starting this project again, and excited about knitting it. I am also happy that I stopped and checked everything before knitting further. Having actually knit part of the sweater, I have a much better understanding of way the pattern works, and I discovered that I had made an error in my initial math. That too has been corrected and the project should be smooth knitting from here. It is not really mindless knitting, but it is fun knitting. And I think this is the first time in a long long while that I am so excited about the whole process, the making, the math, and the anticipation of the finished sweater.
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