I’ve restarted my mom’s throw roughly five times now. I’ve only gotten as far as row 26 out of 350+! I’d be a lot further now if it wasn’t for my quest for perfection. A little mistake I can try and overlook but anything bigger just bugs me to the point of having to rip it out. I’ve tried fixing them before it comes to that and somehow it makes it worse. It’s a good thing this throw is a surprise gift…I’ll get it done at some point.:knitting:
A(not so)perfect knitter
Are you intending this to be a blog thread? If so it’s fine, but if not let me know and I’ll move it to the General Forum so more people will see it.
I tend to be a perfectionist as well and it does take longer to do anything. I’ve been knitting now for 6 yrs and I’ve learned that some “mistakes” really just don’t matter. Whew! 
It’s a good thing this throw is a surprise gift…I’ll get it done at some point.
Hope you don’t mind me butting in here. I had yarn for a crocheted log cabin afghan for my DD. GD said, if mom knows about it how can it be a surprise for her birthday. I said, the surprise will be if I get in done by her birthday. I didn’t. That was OK this time, she’d picked her own pattern and yarn colors. That is one big afghan, I think the whole family snuggles up under it.
Learning what mistakes can be overlooked is a toughie for me. I want to fix [I]everything[/I] but if I’m ever going to finish anything, I can’t.
Betcha your mom will love it even if you end up wanting cringe when you see it.
Well, the trick is learning which mistakes can be fixed and which ones will to overlook. Some are easy, others not so much. 
It’ll be an on-going blog type post.
I was talking to my mom the other day about wanting things to be just right. She laughed and reminded me that my grandmother always said that an error in a project was proof it was made with love. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. If my mom only knew how many times I’ve restarted her throw she’d laugh too. Instead I told her that my grand mother is certainly having a good laugh in heaven at my struggle with my “pot holders”.
I’m just about done the top border of the throw and caught up to the last row count I was at before I ripped it all out. It had more “love” according to my grand mother’s advice then I could stand. This time I have a good rhythm down between the yarn and my hands. I’ve also learned not to try and knit while dealing with a cranky four year old.
I’m sure you’re mother will know it was knit with love and love it! 
As of tonight/the wee hours of a Sunday morning I’m officially on row 25!:woohoo: I can’t even tell you how happy I am to be this far into my project and have the stitch count perfect.There’s a little “love” stitch in there but you can’t see it.cloud9 It’s almost 1 AM so I’m stopping before I end up regretting it. In the mean time :woot: for [U]finally [/U] having a better relationship with knitting than wanting to throw it across the room…and yes, I did that more than once.
Look out world…I’m a knitting fool now!:knitting:
Good for you! I’d probably put in a life line about now, then when I need to frog again, I wouldn’t go too far. I just finished leg warmers. Hope my GD likes the way they fit. I’ve not made it to Sunday yet, it’s still Saturday here on the west coast.
Yep… lifeline. Normally you don’t need it for simple things, but if you’ve been having problems don’t hesitate to use one.
Tonight was a reminder that I need to get working on the throw. So far so good…a few small errors but I’m okay with them. I’ve come too far to rip it all out…finally starting to see the pattern come to life.
Still hoping she likes it… .I really want to tell her but I won’t. Not because I might not get it done by my hopeful deadline but because my relationship with my mom is very new and fragile, I want this to be a true gift of unexpected love…a gift truly from the heart. As the project grows…so does my understanding of my mom and in turn parts of myself and in each stitch…we grow closer. And so I knit. Someday when my mom passes this throw will come back to me and I’ll know that it was made with love by me, covered her in love in times of need and then returned to me full of her love and our memories.
I couldn’t resist…I told my mom I was working on something for her but didn’t get it done in time. She told me she didn’t care and didn’t want it. Guess I’ll keep it.
I’m so sorry. I understand how much that hurts.
Ahhh, that’s too bad. Maybe you can find someone else to give it to.
:noway: I don’t even know what to say. I’m so sorry. I agree with Sue that maybe you can find someone who will appreciate your gift of love.
I know that smarts and hurts a lot, but at least she was honest.
To spend all that time, money, etc. and then have her throw it away, or give it away, would have hurt more I think. It probably would even make me mad.
Now you know not to waste your time even considering to make stuff for her. Save it for someone that will appreciate it.
Did she say why she did not want it?
Is it because it was late for Christmas or she doesn’t want a knitted or crocheted item?
BIG HUG to you.
She didn’t say why, since she had no idea what it was just that it was something I was making for her but didn’t finish in time for the holiday. I’ll keep it for myself…my hard work, my reward.
I’m not giving up…I had to take a break and clear my head but I’ll finish in time for her birthday.
Oh you’re going to give it to her anyway?