Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Garment Knitting Madness

First off, thanks Knit Gang for the sage words of post finished object fixes. I plan to sit down with low blood pressure at some point this week and tack down that bizarre loopy thing in the back of the blue baby blanket.

Meanwhile back at the knitting ranch (or at least my chair in the corner) ...

I have been very single project focused as of late. I feel like this is a newer development in the past year or two. Still, you'll usually see me waffle between things. I normally have a pair of socks on the needles to "heal thyself" when other projects get cheeky with me.

Not now. Not today.


At the moment my knitting love is solomente for a cardigan. This is the one I posted about with the provisional cast on that fills me with doubt. This is the one that I kept reading the pattern only to feel @ss backwards. Well, yes I worked it out. The pattern I confirmed is well written. I basically require more time to understand patterns. My understanding is even more delayed when I decide I need to do my most intense knitting late at night before bedtime.

I did make some progress since that post.

Then, another night, perhaps a little later than usual, I decided something was off. I went back through the pattern and decided one half (the left half ) of my neckband was wrong. I had crazy knitting dreams for 6 hours and went to work. I then came home and decided to rip out an entire column of knitting down to the provisional cast on one by one to get it right. After re-doing the first column after the slipped stitch edge, I realized ... I had initially done it right. I looked at the part of the pattern I read the night before that made me think I was wrong. I was referring to the wrong part.

It's okay. I fixed it, but I lost an entire evening of knitting undoing something that wasn't wrong. It's still too fresh to really belly laugh about it yet.

I finished the yoke and now am working the body. alas, I now see, where I undid that knit column to put in a purl column to yet undo it again and replace with a knit? It's loosey goosey and again the madness has set in. I will attempt this evening to fix it. The madness, the sadness within, it's Shakespearean. I enjoy this, right?


This is the goal. I picked up the kit at Craftsy just after I swore off kits on Kathy's blog when she asked, "Do you fall for knit kits?"  This was my response:
5. I have fallen for knit kits. Once or twice. I have repurposed the yarn. I doubt I'll be doing that again anytime soon!
So embarrassing. The deal was good and the pattern is pretty and I'm weak.

Have you ever had a project where the madness has taken hold? Was it a garment? Did it speak to you in a funny ghost voice? ;)

14 comments:

  1. I love the pattern detailing in the center of that sweater. SOOO pretty.

    My new blog: http://pointylittlesticks.blogspot.com or http://meanwhileinflorida.blogspot.com

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  2. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.....I live in a world of madness. I can make myself physically sick when a project is going wrong. I keep Tums in my knitting bag. I still have not recovered from Son's cardi. I think I need a prescription.

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  3. I understand your dilemma. I too usually screw up in a major way when I am knitting and am really tired. And then I obsess. And then I rip and re-do. And then it's not necessarily good. Right now, I am in the process of ripping back many many many rows because I forgot to decrease enough. I am purposely making myself do only a few rows each day.

    But UGH!

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  4. I always have a project where madness takes hold, it is after the madness wears off that I worry if I will get it done or not. You are doing great, just keep knitting!
    Meredith

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  5. Yes, you have a lot of company! The yarn when you keep doing an area over and over will lose its zip just as you have. If you have to knit it again-use a new area of yarn; you will like the results better. This is looking great-hang in there!

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  6. Oh yes we have all been there! It is so admirable that you are creating a sweater. I am sticking to fast results with no learning curve..hows that for pushing it?
    May it surprise you and become a favorite sweater. Kits have their place in our knit world!
    Oh and its windy as all get out and snowing here......sigh

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  7. I like this progress. The back looks sharp.

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  8. don't you hate when you undo the right stuff??? Oh I've done that. I love your sweater it's beautiful!!

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  9. i hate to think how many times i've undone something that was right, only to discover it AFTER i've ripped. grrrrr i keep telling myself sh*t happens but that isn't always so comforting! and those kit things....I'm a total sucker for them, and 99% of the time, the yarn ends up in something else. (I'm a slow learner. Glad to see I have some company!!!!)

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  10. LOL! I suggest you not try to fix it and let blocking work it's magic. Lovely pattern.

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  11. It's simultaneously comforting and scary that there are so many of us in this same boat! Your cardi is looking very nice though. :-)

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  12. That does look like a great pattern even though it's fighting you. Hope you get things worked out. I call those naughty patterns my "don't talk to me" projects. They can be scary!

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  13. The Goal is one dandy of a sweater. Just keep that in mind when the madness hits. My husband once asked me why I knit when all it seemed to do was cause me angst. You are so right in your comparison to Shakespeare ... the course of true love never did run smooth (A Midsummer's Night's Dream).

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