Last week I knit over and over and over a section of the Blue Ashton always creating the same mistake of having one additional stitch on row 13 (of all the rows for it to show up, unlucky number 13). Late last week I decided doing it again wasn't going to solve the problem, so I contacted my lace shawl instructor, Alison. There was something I was doing wrong, and I couldn't find the problem so I was sure an experienced, fresh pair of eyes would catch the mistake. In order to avoid looking silly I'd even checked my work one last time yesterday morning before the appointment to be sure I wasn't missing something obvious and as far as I could tell it wasn't a simple blunder.
There are many ways to create problems for yourself when knitting lace including
The new version with the added blue colour for the repeated segment and clear symbols is so much easier to read. Using fresh instructions will be something I will now incorporate into lace knitting for the future.
Bottom line is this: The mistake I kept making over and over last week was due to a bad copy of the instructions, not my skill to knit. I've learned a NEW way to screw up when knitting lace: an inaccurate set of instructions that you manage to create for yourself! Really this one is for the books.
There are many ways to create problems for yourself when knitting lace including
- missing an increase
- missing a decrease
- forgetting a yarn over
- dropping a yarn over
- miscounting stitches
- forgetting to pass a slipped stitch over the next knit stitch
- misplacing a place marker
- doing a slip, slip knit instead of a knit two together
The list could go on but it should be clear there's plenty of opportunities to make mistakes with lace.
My expectation was that I had to be doing one of these types of mistakes and not detecting it. Alison looked at my work and in less than 30 seconds said, ¨You don't seem to be doing the double decrease in this row.¨ I was blown away that she knew the pattern so well she could look at my work and diagnose a mistake within seconds. She didn't need to look at the instructions to confirm anything. I, of course, was looking at my instructions and didn't see where one would need to do a double decrease; it wasn't showing. Alison then looked at my instructions, which was being used for the third time and said, ¨It appears the third leg has fallen off of the second stitch in the repeat.¨ I knew exactly what she was talking about. She added the leg to my instructions (see below) and I was in and out of the shop in less than 5 minutes having stopped to purchase some point protectors to boot.
My expectation was that I had to be doing one of these types of mistakes and not detecting it. Alison looked at my work and in less than 30 seconds said, ¨You don't seem to be doing the double decrease in this row.¨ I was blown away that she knew the pattern so well she could look at my work and diagnose a mistake within seconds. She didn't need to look at the instructions to confirm anything. I, of course, was looking at my instructions and didn't see where one would need to do a double decrease; it wasn't showing. Alison then looked at my instructions, which was being used for the third time and said, ¨It appears the third leg has fallen off of the second stitch in the repeat.¨ I knew exactly what she was talking about. She added the leg to my instructions (see below) and I was in and out of the shop in less than 5 minutes having stopped to purchase some point protectors to boot.
Now to fill in some of the blanks. The instructions I was using had been marked with an erasable highlight pen to indicate where beads could go. While using the instructions I had erased marks made and add new ones as I placed beads in different locations. During that process of erasing one of the three legs of the double decrease, disappeared. This created the symbol for a single stitch decrease instead of the required double causing that consistent one extra stitch in each repeat. (Don't worry if this doesn't make a whole lot of sense, it is just details.)
A picture may help you see what I'm talking about.
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This old copy is pretty beat up. As the highlight was erased part of the paper and ink were also removed. Even some of the yarn overs on the right (the 0) at the start of each row are sometimes hard to read.
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Bottom line is this: The mistake I kept making over and over last week was due to a bad copy of the instructions, not my skill to knit. I've learned a NEW way to screw up when knitting lace: an inaccurate set of instructions that you manage to create for yourself! Really this one is for the books.
BTW, last night using the new copy, I was able to complete Chart 3 and moved into the last chart. Yeah, having a proper set of directions makes the process much more efficient.
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