Last night I ripped out half a poncho - I am knitting it in the round from the bottom up so half a poncho is really 2/3 of the work to finish. I should have done it a lot sooner. I had looked at it and looked at it and kept trying to convince myself it was ok but finally ripped it all out and started over and today I am glad I did. The corrections and changes I a making will make a far better garment. Thats the price I pay for never making a pattern exactly as written. I have to make changes and sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.
How do others feel about ripping out and starting over? How many times can I do this before the yarn is no good? I’d like to hear others’ thoughts.
I don’t know how many times you can rip out a project, but I can say I am looking forward to the days that I don’t have to do that anymore to fix mistakes. I am getting better, but just the other day I had to rip out about 2 inches from a hat I am making for my son. Now I am back on track!
I am pretty good about fixing mistakes when I find them (and I do!) But this time the problem was that I didn’t like what I had done with the pattern and really needed to do it differently - when the first three rows are wrong its hard to do anything but rip it all out. But I’ve been working on it today and am really glad I started over - as I told my husband, “I like to knit, if I just wanted a knitted poncho I could buy one.” So I will just concentrate on enjoying the knitting of it - twice!
i rip all the time. I don’t feel bad about it at all, because I want to put the effort in to make things look nice. If I didn’t care what it looked like I wouldn’t bother knitting in the first place. But the need for frogging will decrease as your experience increases. Plus, I’ll rip out the first say 10 rows a LOT if I don’t like how they look (regardless of whether or not I made a “mistake”). Once you get into the groove of the project though, and the stitches/patterns become second nature you (I) don’t need to do it so much
I’ve been knitting forever and I rip things out all the time. There is no shame in ripping a row, half a project, or to nothing. I rip because I’ve made mistakes, don’t like the gage I’m working at, made it too big, made it too small, etc etc etc.
Heck, I finished a hat with no errors, sewed up the seams, finished the ends and wove them in, then RIP. The size was just a tad too big, and I wanted to change the pattern. After it was completely done. Hours and hours of work poof just like that. Of course, when I finished it the second time, it was exactly what I wanted, and I had the pattern memorized by then and could work it in my sleep.
I’m working a a sweater now that I had gotten about 10 inches into when I decided I didn’t like the gage. The fabrick was too stiff. Everything was measuring fine, I just didn’t like it. So I ripped it out, recalculated EVERYTHING to the new gage (I’m not working off a pattern), and got going again. Now I’m nearing the home stretch, no worse for the ware but a few hours of learning time.
I’ve been able to work the same yarn a few times. It depends, so far as I’ve noticed, on how much you twist/untwist the yarn while you work and after you’ve frogged it. And there’s no consistency; it depends on you and the yarn. Some yarn I know I could rip and reuse a dozen times, some yarn I can barely rip in the first place. It has to do with how fuzzy it is, usually, and how tightly its twisted in the first place. I don’t think there’s really any one answer to that question.
Ripping sucks, but I find that I’m much happier with the project when I do. Maybe someday it won’t be necessary. “As you knit, so shall you rip”. Thank you Edith Eig…(I watch too many knitting shows!
The yarn starts to get bad after about three times of redoing. But may be different yarns last better than others. I must addmit: I have little experience.
I have ripped apart my knitting on almost every project in the beginning and I think that is ok. If I don’t like the way something looks I will never be really happy with it so it makes sense to me to take it apart and start over.
My friends at work who knit think I am crazy but in the end I am happier with my project and I can be satisfied with my work. Although, after ripping a scarf apart for the 3rd time I almost gave up. Fourth time was a charm b/c it was a gift for my Aunt and I wanted it to be perfect! Every time I see her wearing it I am so happy I got it right!
Ripping projects apart has also caused me to learn ALOT!
