One thing is assured when knitting, there will be errors. Knitting is a human endeavor where decisions about colour and weight of yarn, size of needles and pattern combinations are determined by the creator. Thus the enterprise can be both motivating and disappointing depending on the choices the knitter makes.
In addition to those choices the knitter can mess up the technique by knitting a stitch or two or more incorrectly. Sometimes a single stitch mistake is easily fixed, at others it might become a major issue. Tinking (taking knitted work apart one stitch at a time horizontally) or frogging (ripping the fabric apart horizontally, generally off the needles) are two techniques most knitters are familiar with because there is plenty of opportunity to practice it. There are, however, times when neither are an efficient option.
The Jeweled Cowl currently on my needles has two things that make tinking and frogging difficulty. First it is made up of 250 stitches, simply knitting a row can take 20 minutes, especially when the beads are added, tinking a row will take at least 30-40 minutes. Frogging doesn't work very well when one is knitting a lace pattern and this cowl has 44 stitches incorporating lace. So when I found this:
The mistake is about 4 rows below the current row and if I tink or frog back to it, hours of unmaking and remaking will be lost or spent. I knew a better way to fix this mistake had to be found so using a few resources* for help I decided to focus on the vertical columns of 2 stitches right around the hole. Here's a photo collection showing what was done each step of the way.
Step 1 - Place the project on a white towel so the mistake can be easily seen. (Good light is also very helpful.) Place stitch stops on both needles (the green tips) so only the stitches to be worked on are free. Remove the two stitches that need to be redone from the needles. Free the two stitches and let the stitches drop. As you can see below there are 4 rows free.
Step 2 - Line up the rows of work so it is easier to see which strand of yarn goes with each row.
Step 3 - Determine which of the two pattern rows to start with and pick up the appropriate stitches. I decided to use a very small double pointed needle and crochet hook to pick up the stitches and knit the two problematic stitches. For me using smaller needles makes the experience a lot less stressful since they slide in and out with ease. Tension can be adjusted after the mistake is corrected.
Steps 4 and 5 - Work the pattern rows north, being careful to use the appropriate strand. Again it is easier to do all this if the strands remain appropriately aligned. I knit and picked up stitches with the crochet hook and used the tiny needle to keep working stitches in place.
And voila the mistake is removed.
Yes, the horizontal line just below the point of the white arrow is arguable a bit wonky, but that will be fixed during blocking (if you look closely at other parts of the fabric you can see other wonky horizontal lines that did not have to go through the trauma of being redone). And this fix including the photos took less than 5 minutes, additionally about 30 minutes of thinking and preparing to do the repair were also spent. Had I removed all 250 stitches to fix the problem, hours would have been spent taking the fabric apart, picking up the stitches and then knitting all four rows again. This ability to read ones own knitting, deconstructing and then reconstructing it is so efficient, it was worth the time it took to figure out how to do it well. Now back to moving this project forward!
* These free links for fixes to knitting mistakes were used:
In addition to those choices the knitter can mess up the technique by knitting a stitch or two or more incorrectly. Sometimes a single stitch mistake is easily fixed, at others it might become a major issue. Tinking (taking knitted work apart one stitch at a time horizontally) or frogging (ripping the fabric apart horizontally, generally off the needles) are two techniques most knitters are familiar with because there is plenty of opportunity to practice it. There are, however, times when neither are an efficient option.
The Jeweled Cowl currently on my needles has two things that make tinking and frogging difficulty. First it is made up of 250 stitches, simply knitting a row can take 20 minutes, especially when the beads are added, tinking a row will take at least 30-40 minutes. Frogging doesn't work very well when one is knitting a lace pattern and this cowl has 44 stitches incorporating lace. So when I found this:
 |
| The tip of the big white arrow is pointing to the super-sized hole that needs to be fixed. |
Step 1 - Place the project on a white towel so the mistake can be easily seen. (Good light is also very helpful.) Place stitch stops on both needles (the green tips) so only the stitches to be worked on are free. Remove the two stitches that need to be redone from the needles. Free the two stitches and let the stitches drop. As you can see below there are 4 rows free.
Step 2 - Line up the rows of work so it is easier to see which strand of yarn goes with each row.
Step 3 - Determine which of the two pattern rows to start with and pick up the appropriate stitches. I decided to use a very small double pointed needle and crochet hook to pick up the stitches and knit the two problematic stitches. For me using smaller needles makes the experience a lot less stressful since they slide in and out with ease. Tension can be adjusted after the mistake is corrected.
Steps 4 and 5 - Work the pattern rows north, being careful to use the appropriate strand. Again it is easier to do all this if the strands remain appropriately aligned. I knit and picked up stitches with the crochet hook and used the tiny needle to keep working stitches in place.
And voila the mistake is removed.
Yes, the horizontal line just below the point of the white arrow is arguable a bit wonky, but that will be fixed during blocking (if you look closely at other parts of the fabric you can see other wonky horizontal lines that did not have to go through the trauma of being redone). And this fix including the photos took less than 5 minutes, additionally about 30 minutes of thinking and preparing to do the repair were also spent. Had I removed all 250 stitches to fix the problem, hours would have been spent taking the fabric apart, picking up the stitches and then knitting all four rows again. This ability to read ones own knitting, deconstructing and then reconstructing it is so efficient, it was worth the time it took to figure out how to do it well. Now back to moving this project forward!
* These free links for fixes to knitting mistakes were used:
- Fixing Knitting Mistakes for Dummies
- Knitters' Guide to Fixing Mistakes
- Correcting a Stitch Several Rows Down
- Fixing 17 Types of Knitting Mistakes - One might need to create an account with Knitting Daily to get this free eGuide.
Comments
Post a Comment