4th time the charm?

#1

I’m guessing (and hoping) I’m not the first to start a project only to mess up and pull the whole thing apart and start over…several times! :think: I have decided to make an afgan. Got a really pretty pattern, tried it and about 20 rows in realized it was way to complicated as a first big project. So I unraveled it and started over with an easier pattern.

Got about 30 rows into the new pattern and realized I missed the first part of the pattern and started on row 7. Errr! So I unraveled again and started over. Got about 10 rows in and messed up and unraveled. Then this time I got 60 rows in and noticed a HOLE in the blanket where there shouldn’t be one. I mean it was this quarter size HOLE! :shrug: I have no idea what i did wrong!!! Now I’m getting frusterated!!! I’ve decided to walk away from it for the day and go back and start it again tomorrow!!!

#2

Hey. That’s more perseverence than I have. I’d have given up after the second time.

#3

If you have holes in knitting where they shouldn’t be, there could be a couple things. You did an accidental YO, which you can fix by dropping down the sts above it, you dropped a stitch which can be fixed by picking up the st to the current row, or you picked up your piece in the middle of the row and knit the wrong direction, which has to be ripped out to that point.

You don’t have to rip all of it out to start over, look at the videos for Fixing Mistakes on the Tips page. It’s much less frustrating when you can leave at least the start of your project unraveled instead of beginning over again.

It’s also good to put the knitting into a ‘time out’ to let it think about why it’s being difficult… :wink:

#4

I like that…time out for knitting! :roflhard:

#5

Bad knitting, bad bad knitting! Go sit in the time-out basket until you decide to behave! :fingerwag:

I think I’ll try that on mine next time it decides to be uncooperative and see how it works! Thanks for the idea! :wink:

MGM

#6

Oh I can totally hear ya!! I had one SCARF that I frogged 13 times before I got it right!! A SCARF!

But, I liked it when I finally finished it!:inlove:

#7

You are SOOOOOO not the first…nuff said…

:frog: :frog: :frog: :frog: :frog: :frog:

#8

Oh, no. You are far from the only one to do this. My DFIL’s birthday socks are a testament to that.

#9

I have 2 words…Life Line.

#10

No, you’re not the first to do that and you won’t be the last. If the pattern is simple like stockinette or garter you can frog (rip it) back to where you can start again. If it’s more complicated and you’ll not know where you are in the pattern use a lifeline. You move it up as you work on the pattern as you complete rows without mistakes…maybe every 10 or 15 rows. It’s time consuming, but not as much as starting over every time!

How to is here:
http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knitting-tips

***One note from experience - make note on your pattern or somewhere exactly where in the pattern the lifeline is so if you have to rip back to it you’ll know what line comes next. I make note on the row right on the pattern.

#11

Thanks for the chuckle.

#12

A lifeline!!! I saw those “two words” earlier and had no idea what they meant! I found the video and it just may save my sanity!!! :cheering: I couldn’t leave it in time out all day… it was crying for me! :lol: But now that i’ve done the first 8 rows for the border, a lifeline is going in so I at least won’t have to repeat them!!!:woot:
You guys and gals are the best!!!

#13

Bad knitting is great! Thanks, MGM!!! As for life lines, I just started using them and should have earlier as I have froggingnitus, lol! My kids call me the frogging queen as my perfectionism has me doing a lot of frogging. Although I am getting a bit better as I am letting my buttonholes slide on a sweater because I can’t remember what I did to make the first one so perfect! Not only have I frogged a lot but I have two versions of a crocheted vest in alpaca yarn which has issues of its’ own and sitting in my rip it out and try to find some yarn to blend it with as stretching isn’t good. I hope you stick with it as the finished item is worth it. I always feel a great sense of achievement when I finish a project and give it to whom I was making it for ( such bad grammar, lol).