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one of these things is not like the others
Posted on | August 4, 2008 | 15 Comments
I was happily knitting along Friday night, looked down, and saw this. Ugh. A miscrossed cable, about 20 rows back. I remembered the Harlot doing a tutorial about fixing a miscrossed cable two different ways that didn’t require ripping back – (1) you can sew over the top of the cable, which I didn’t think would work with this mostly cotton yarn, and (2) dropping down the stitches to the miscrossed cable, fixing it, and then knitting back up. I decided to try Option 2.
I knit the next row to the offending stitches and took those stitches off the needles.
I unraveled down…
Put the live stitches on bamboo straights and knit a couple of rows, thinking everything was going to be fine and experiencing a sense of accomplishment, and yes, a bit of smug as well.
And then, three rows into knitting back up, I noticed this:
A hole. A hole that wasn’t going to go away, no matter how much I blocked the sweater. A big, gaping hole, right in the center of my sweater front. It just wouldn’t do. Cotton is not as forgiving as wool and I imagined the hole would get bigger with wear, not smaller. I had no choice but to rip back.
I broke out the reinforcements and knit on. Sometimes that’s all we knitters can do.
Comments
15 Responses to “one of these things is not like the others”
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August 4th, 2008 @ 9:51 am
Aw man! You’re probably right, that hole might have shrunk a little with washing, but would likely never have gone away completely. Poo.
August 4th, 2008 @ 10:44 am
Good try! At least it wasn’t at the beginning of the sweater and everything goes better with a beer anyway. ;-)
August 4th, 2008 @ 11:11 am
Oh ow. I’ve fixed mis-crossed cables by dropping just half the cable down and nudging it to the side and then working it back up, but I think that 20 rows + cotton = no way.
Enjoy the reinforcements.
August 4th, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
Ohhhh! You know what I do in these cases? The hole is usually caused by the yarn being pulled over and the stitches you didn’t drop becoming marginally smaller. If you take the point of your needle and insert it into the stitches beside where you dropped down, you can tug the excess yarn over. You may need to do this for several stitches on each side of the hole, moving the excess yarn across until it is all worked in. In any case, it’s usually quicker than ripping. I hate to frog :)
August 4th, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
Dropping down and fixing cables is the worst (especially when you waited so long to break out the Harp). I feel for you, honestly. It unnerves me to no end.
August 4th, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
I’m so glad that I’m not the only one that’s had that happen!!! I tried and tried to drop stitches down to a mistake and knit them back up, but I ended up with the same exact thing. Let me know if you need more “reinforcements”. ;-)
August 4th, 2008 @ 4:16 pm
I’ve only ripped back and fixed a stitch once in my knitting career. It was one stitch only and it was wool besides. Sorry your had to start over.
August 4th, 2008 @ 5:22 pm
You are brave for even trying to fix it first. The sweater is beautful by the way.
August 4th, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
Here! Here! For the reinforcements. It’s a bit sad, but If you’d rather think of it in a happy way, you can always use EZ’s excuse, “Oh boy! More of my favorite hobby!”
August 4th, 2008 @ 7:34 pm
I don’t know how many times I tried that with Clessidra and ended up ripping back several rows, to fix a stupid cable. argh. A couple times, I just crossed the stitches and went on. I still see a place or two where the cables are miscrossed. sigh
August 5th, 2008 @ 6:11 am
oh, well. i was just reading the other day that the mark of a really good craftsperson is their willingness to face their mistakes with this kind of fortitude ( and fortifications!).
August 5th, 2008 @ 7:11 am
I’m sure it will be worth it because it looks beautiful, but I’d have to shelf it for a while after seeing the hole. Probably just about a year or so, until I got over my tantrum.
August 5th, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Thank GOODNESS there was medicinal beverages in the house!! LOL!!
I know the sweater will be gorgeous!!!
August 5th, 2008 @ 11:16 pm
Hey, you’re braver than I am for even trying it. I would have just cursed a blue streak and ripped back. Your sweater is going to be beautiful!
August 9th, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
Excellent and courageous recovery. My hat is off to you. There is a miscrossed cable on the sleeve of the first sweater I knit for myself back in 19[mumblemumble].