the “Old Shale” scarf. All was going so well (isn’t that always the case!) when I looked down and realized I had made a goofy mistake and had now reversed my pattern. How the heck I did that, I don’t know. My husband says it looks fine (sweet man) but it bugs me so I want to rip it back to before the mistake. (I’m assuming that I did an extra knit row, that’s all I can think of.)
My question is, I thought about trying to insert a needle through the already knit stitches and rip to there but I tried it and it’s giving me a headache. Am I making more trouble for myself, should I just carefully rip it and pick up the stitches?
What would you do??
I always clear the room, house…an environment where I won’t be interrupted then I remove the project from my needles and carefully, stitch by stitch, rip back to the knit round closest to the error.
Skps, s2kps and k2togs tend to stick, depending on the fiber so I really take it slow. I’ve had to rip out as many as 60 rounds, working on a pattern. Sometimes you miss a stitch but 1 or 2 is better than a partial round. Aside from the sticking, I’ve found that the yarn actually has a memory during the process and the sts are easily picked up. Just be careful and patient and you can do it. Each time I have to go through this I swear that I’m gonna use lots of lifelines but I never do…HARD HEADED!!! I have changed my attitude a bit and now use a lifeline at least on rounds that may have a change or questionable or every 10 rounds. Good luck!
I would try to rip back to the purl row. It will, of course, be on the wrong side of the scarf, and should be easily identified because it will follow the row with all the yarnovers. The purl row should be fairly stable because the row under the purl row is a knit row. I would rip away until you get to that row of with the yarn overs in it, then I would slow down. If you have a smaller needle available, it is sometimes easier to pick up the stitches with the smaller needle and then kit the next row with the correct size needle. Good luck.
I did rip it back, while the kids were screaming and dinner was cooking, what was I thinking!!! Hahaha!! I got all the stitches put back on, thanks to three needles and a crochet hook! I never thought to go back to the purl row, that’s so smart!! I will check and see where I ripped to and may need to tink back to that. I honestly don’t know what is WS and what is RS so I’ll have to really look and read the sts. That’s hard for me so I will wait until tonight when everyone is sleeping and the house is quiet!!
Thanks for the help, encouragement and the suggestions!!!
Thanks. I did go back to the row just before my YO’s and then took a good hard look at what was going on. I looked and looked and thought about it and read the pattern and then, quite by accident, I did the right thing anyway! I don’t know how I did it because when I had knit 8 more rows I realized that my thinking was faulty when I dove back in but it was right anyway. God must love a knitter!
It’s looking great and I’m back on track. Next time I may research how to put in a lifeline, although this rip wasn’t too bad at all. I am really resisting knitting lace, I just think it would drive me nuts and with the kids at home I just don’t have the blocks of time it requires. It’s so pretty though!! I think this is about as lacy as I’m going to get right now.
BTW, this is called the Old Shale scarf but is it really “feather and fan”?
Yes, it’s Feather and Fan! Lifelines are fairly simple…thread blunt needle and run it through the loops, either as you knit or on a purl row or if you’re using an interchangeable needle, put the thread through the little adjusting hole, tie it off and it will be set as you knit. Be sure to use a thinner thread/yarn than what you’re knitting with and make sure it’s colorfast and not fuzzy…Crochet cotton is perfect! Make sure that the lifeline is long enough with a little extra to tie off.
There are lots a variations on the Feather and Fan st pattern, Old shale is one of them. You can practice with a lifeline now, put it on a WS row the way Mart advises.
That is excellent info, thanks!!! I always wanted to try feather and fan but was too scared! hahaha! Fooled myself! Like when we call one food something else to get my kids to eat it! Works on little kids AND big kids! :roflhard:
I’m not sure what kind of needles you are knitting with but if you are so fortunate to be using an interchangable some have a hole for the tightening key at the join. I like to thread my lifeline through the little hole before I knit the last row of the repeat. Then I just knit accross and after, the lifeline is already through w/o fussing with a tapestry needle.
You can also, if you are careful (and maybe using a bright light and one of those magnifying glasses for sweing) insert a lifeline [I]before [/I]you rip back in case you didn’t use one originally. For Lace, this is a little tricky, but Feather and Fan I think has one plain garter ridge that it would be easier to do that with where there aren’t decreases or YOs.
I made a lace shawl and i learned the ripping is always easier on a WS row. By that I mean tinking the purl side, otherwise, I was inevitably missing a tink of a yo on the RS.
I hope that helps some. I’m like you, it really bugs me to notice an error many rows down and I’ve frogged 10" of a sweater to fix it. My DH and DM think I’m crazy, they say ‘fugghetaboutit!’ but I can’t! :teehee:
Heh, I went back to the underarms of a bottom up seamless yoked sweater to add more length, and realized another ball of yarn has more yardage than the orginal body piece, so I’m starting over. At least the sleeves are already done, I just have 15-16" of stockinette in the round to knit to join them. That shouldn’t take too long…
but I can’t! :teehee: