Just for fun…
Yes, we all make mistakes in our knitting at some time or another. But how do you handle them?
How do you handle mistakes?
Every time I start a project, I tell myself that THIS one is going to be perfect. That I will fix every mistake, no matter how minor or unnoticeable. HAH!
I fix what can be fixed easily, and leave what’s not noticeable. Except to me.
The only time I left a mistake in a FO was one that was going to be felted and everyone on this forum promised me that I would not be able to notice it after felting, and they were right!
I can’t stand when I know something is not right. I have to fix it. 
me too! that’s why i never finish anything big… i wish I could have voted “frog it 3 times then abandon it” I know that if there’s a booboo I won’t be able to wear it without KNOWING that it’s there, so I always have to fix it… I don’t, however, frog stufff that’s going to be felted… it won’t show up anyway.
If it’s for someone else and you can’t tell (at least a non-knitter can’t tell) then I leave it. If it’s for me, I’ll frog it until it’s right. It would just bug me for eternity if I didn’t.
I always have to fix it. That is, if I notice it while working on it. Sometimes, in my new projects, I did not notice until I was done, like a twisted stitch or whatever. My very first project I had major errors on and did not fix them… well, I thought they were major, my sister did not notice… anyway, everytime I see that scarf I get irritated inside. So, now, I have to undo or frog my mistake. Now, I need to learn how to unknit so I don’t just rrrrriiiiippppp and then thread the needle back through the loops because that is a major PITA! :evil:
I have a mistake in my son’s sock right now and I am going to take it to my lys lady. I’m scared that it’s going to be a long ladder to fix it, but it will be something else that I will know for future occurances.
Making mistakes is a learning process for me, so I won’t allow it to remain.
I usually HAVE to fix it - the perfectionist (in training) in me coming out.
Sometimes I can talk myself into calling it a “design element”. On the sweater I’m doing right now I noticed on the LAST row of the ribbing that I’d been knitting the whole ribbing for the first sleeve with one size 3 (correct) and one size 5 needle - didn’t want to frog the whole thing so just made a note to do the second sleeve (which I finished last night) exactly the same way. Noone will ever know!
Same sleeve, miscrossed cable in a chain cable - VERY noticable - HAD to ladder down and fix that.
I’m a fanatic about making notes of anything I change in a pattern and always make a tally sheet for row counts on anything that has a matching piece such as sleeves, front and backs of sweaters etc. That way I know that I had to do 108 rows before the armhole bind off on the front and not end up with 106 or 110 to the same measurement for the back. NOTHING worse than seaming a sweater and having the front and back not be even!!
I figure since I’m human there’s probably an ‘eerror’ somewhere that I DIDN’T notice, but since only God is perfect that’s OK.
And I still learn something with every new project.
HAPPY KNITTNG - (with occasional frogging)
Mary
Clever fix on the ribbing, Mary!
I have to fix the mistake. I once tried to ‘let it go’ and after several more inches of knitting, I couldn’t stand it and out it all came anyway. I felt much better with the mistake fixed.
Generally speaking…I HAVE to fix it; without a doubt…BUT; If I discover a small booboo at the beginning of a large project that is not going to be noticeable to the recipient; I’ll let it go…it still will drive my crazy :wall: …but I’ll let go as is. So, my vote was null. But that’s okay, because I AM MY 
FAVORITE YARN…MERINO 
over the years I have unlearned that I & the things I do need to be perfect. I am still learning, but am much happier.
over the years I have unlearned that I & the things I do need to be perfect. I am still learning, but am much happier.
Great philosophy. It does make one happier knowing you’ve done the best possible job. No sleepless nights, ripping up the sheets doing the woulda, shoulda, coulda.
Sounds like everyone corrects with great skill, so, can you tell me how you correct/pickup/frog etc when you’re doing open work, i.e., lace with lots of yo’s, k2tog, psso’s?
I redid an afghan a half dozen times before throwing in the towel 'cause I just couldn’t figure out how to correct the mistakes. I’d end up with a big strand of yarn hanging out in the wind and not knowing what to do with it.
I bought a bunch of Alpaca Cloud and a couple of lace scarf patterns from Knitpicks today hoping I could make them for Xmas. That might of have been a mistake, or maybe I could start on gifts for December 2007.
I guess I didn’t even need to add those other choices, eh? LOL
I generally have to fix mistakes. Maybe I’m just a perfectionist, but I do it because I love to have a perfect finished item. Most of the time, it just involvs unknitting a row or two, or laddering down.
However, if I don’t catch a mistake, and don’t see it until it’s all finished, if it’s nothing major, I will pretend it’s not there.
One exception to that though… on my Aran Afghan, after I was finished with a square I noticed I had twisted a cable the wrong way. I really didn’t want to leave it, nor did I want to frog the whole square. So I corrected it by adding 4 duplicate stitches over the error. I had never corrected a mistake like that before, and was surprised that it turned out really well. It was neato! :mrgreen:
I want to fix the mistakes… it drives me crazy if I don’t and being a begineer I have lots… but like my daughters Afghan when I got to a row in the 100s I noticed on one of my first few rows there was a HOLE oh my stars I called my mom late and got Dh all roused up cause I had a HOLE he told me to work on my OCD and leave it… so I am… I made a flower to put over it but I still know its there and it still drives me crazy… since he wouldn’t let me fix the hole I had to go re-organize my bath towels… :rollseyes:
lmao…dustina i just remembered why i think you are great :roflhard: :roflhard: :roflhard:
I put “eat chocolate, cry and take up bowling” but that isnt what I really do. First of all I try to fix it myself. If that doesnt work, I then pout and fuss…and try again…constantly reminding myself that they will fix it for me at LYS if need be…I no longer do what I initially did which was to rip it all out in frustration and start over :XX:
Once you except not everything you do needs to be perfect you no longer think about or have sleepless nights.
In lacework I use a saftey-line (stitch holder) in a contrasting color every or everyother pattern repeat. That way it is not a big deal to rip & repeat.
Perced wrote
In lacework I use a saftey-line (stitch holder) in a contrasting color every or everyother pattern repeat. That way it is not a big deal to rip & repeat.
Oh excellent idea! I hope to get these scarves done this year. If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.
:roflhard: …Go work on your OCD…
:roflhard: reorganize the bath towels…
Oh you are so funny…
It’s strange, usually I’m like that, too - if DH folds laundry, I refold it before I put it in the drawers, if he loads the dishwasher I have to do it over for him the right way (he does not use the space effectively!!!), I cringe watching the children color because it’s nowhere near in the lines… but with knitting(and crocheting too) I hardly ever use a pattern, and if something’s not working out the way it’s supposed to be, I either work with it and do something completely different ( I learned how to seed stitch by accidentally casting on an uneven number of rows that I intended to work in ribbing) or scrap it and try again. It’s pretty rare that I frog it, tho. I can usually make it work. Half the time I cast on having no clue what I even want to make…I just feel like making something.