I started the Branching Out scarf… my first attempt at lace knitting. You cast on 25 stitches, and use 3 on either side as a garter stitch border. The chart covers the in between stitches. I noticed after the first row of lace that I had more than 25 stitches (31). I was panicked at first, but then realized that maybe there are decreases in the following rows to account for it. Nearing the end of row 7, I realized after I worked the pattern row, I only had 2 stitches to do the garter edge. Oops.
So I decided to count how many stitches should be in each row, so I can keep track and catch any more mistakes early… This is weird though. You start with 25, then after row 1 you have 31, after row 3 it’s 31, then 32, 30, and 30 respectively. So if you start the pattern again with 30, won’t the scarf just get wider and wider?
Maybe I am reading the pattern incorrectly. I am very frustrated though, now there is no way to know where the mistake is so I’ll have to rip back to the beginning.
If you read the written directions, it has you end with 25 after the pattern repeat. Maybe you can compare the written directions with how you’re interpreting the chart to see where your differences may be.
I am so dumb… There are a couple of stitches I haven’t done before in there that are double decreases and I was counting them as single ones. I sat down with a few more copies of the chart and now it makes sense. It goes 31, 31, 31, 27, 25…
I did get one repeat done with no mistakes, so now I’m looking between the couch cushions to find my darn dental floss to put in a lifeline. I am trying this for my Mom, who lives in a relatively warm climate… I sure hope she appreciates it, otherwise I’m going to feel pretty lame, since it will probably take until Christmas 2010 to finish. (2010: A Lace Odyssey). :teehee:
Thanks for your quick reply Ingrid! Are you up watching the Olympics? I am.
If I were you, I would place a marker after the garter stitch and before the garter stitch so that when you get to those markers, you know where your edges should be. You might want to PM as well after every pattern repeat.
My suggestion for lace- PMs and a lifeline every so many rows.
I made that scarf this spring as my first scarf and found once I got through several repeats that you kind of get in the rhythm of the pattern and it goes pretty quickly. I made it with a fingering weight 100% bamboo yarn and I love it and may even use it. I’m not much of a scarf person normally. It’s a very pretty scarf.
It is going much better now. I had a revelation that even though there are a lot of increases and decreases, the right hand needle will always have one stitch per box on the chart. It seems like such a DUH moment but at first I didn’t realize that so I was having trouble if I needed to re-count in the middle of a row.
I have markers at the edges of the garter stitch, and a lifeline each row (which I have had to use several times). It’s hard to imagine knitting something that has like 300 stitches in a row, though. [I]How [/I]do you guys do it? :notworthy:
Branching Out was my first lace pattern to do. After ripping out and starting over several times (I hadn’t heard of lifelines at the time), I finally found that putting markers between the pattern repeats helped because i could check my stitch count sooner and almost never had to tink or rip back more than one repeat.
Perserverance and patience are def needed for lace knitting, but the beauty and sense of achievment when you finish will make it all worth while. Hang in there!!!
I am doing this scarf but have run into trouble on Row 9 - it just doesn’t work. I’ve counted and I have the correct number of stitches on needles between the 3 stitch edges. Now I have to do 4 stitches on the edge and nothing works out.
Instead of counting stitches, start at the beginning of the row and name them - edge st, k yo dec, 3 knits… however the pattern goes. That way you can easily see if you forgot to you or did an extra dec. The stitch numbers do change from row to row, so that may be throwing you off.
Only a knitter would look for dental floss in the couch.