Evenstar Update.
After I admitted to ripping out the 5 repeats of the pattern and I was knitting merrily along (although at a slower than slow pace. Beads take time), I had a niggle at the back of my brain. I seemed to remember Susan (pattern designer) saying that there were 56 repeats of this pattern. Well, as I was going, it was only going to be 28 repeats. I had one edging repeat for every pattern repeat. One row of edging per live stitch of shawl.
Because I am an optimist, I finished the repeat I was working on and decided that maybe I should re-read the directions. And there it was. One sentence that changes everything. Each live stitch is used for one RS row AND one WS row. Shit.
I stretched it out and pinned it and with 8 or 9 repeats done, I could see that it was not going to block out well. There would not be enough edging and it would pull too tightly. I sat there stunned. How could I have missed something as big as this?
Pk said, "Will it really make a difference? Can you leave it this way and call it a design feature?" (I love him). Unfortunately, I can't. So, I got the Ott light and a spare circ and started to rip out the stitches. The hard part was making sure to pick up all the live stitches and corral the beads. I put all the live stitches on a second circular needle and then transferred them back to the original needle so I could make sure I had all of them and that they were correctly positioned on the needle. I put all the beads back into my little bead box and put the whole thing into its bag to wait for tonight. I'll try again.
This time, I'll re-read the instructions and do it right. Sigh. This project is a real test of my patience.
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9 comments:
Oh, you are a saint! I would have thrown the whole thing across the room then run over and stomped on it! THEN I would have declared it good enough without an edging, bound the sucker off, and put it away till I had forgotten how badly it had pissed me off. You are going to be so pleased and proud when you finish. What a triumph of maturity, artistry, and craftsmanship!
I would have done the same thing (both the mis reading and the ripping), because mistakes bother me. When it's done you can be doubly proud of it - both the beautiful knitting and the fact that it's right.
holy crap Donna Lee, what you're enduring for this beautiful thing!! Deep breath, you're doing the right thing. At the end of it all you're going to look back and feel proud of each step, right?
(Unless like me you sometimes get to the end of such endurance tests and wish you'd never laid eyes on them!)
oh crap. i see the pattern-corrupting fairy visted your place this time. this really sounds like something i would do, and i totally admire your patience and fortitude and determination to get it right. it will be worth it.
I really admire your persistence! Though I can understand not giving up, I think the more times you have restarted, gone back and fixed things, etc, the more you have invested in it. It's so close!
Oh, nooooo. I feel your pain!
Wow. I wish I could say I would have been as good about the whole thing. I believe I would have had a nice, lacy dustrag on my hands!
PK is a keeper, that's for sure. It's always good to have someone there for moral support when the knitting goes awry!
Sometimes I think we get too close to a project, and can't really see it any more.
And sometimes projects need to sit in the naughty corner for a while and think about their sins!
yeah, I'm way behind. ;-)
You've put so much work into Evenstar. I think you did the right thing by ripping out the edging again. For as much time/effort/emotional investment as you have put into this shawl, you deserve for it to be perfect!
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