Ripping out and starting over

#1

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.

#2

I hate ripping. But I’ve gotten pretty good at correcting my mistakes so I rarely have to rip and start over. :slight_smile:

How many times to rip before the yarn is no good? Hmm… I’m not sure. :frowning:

#3

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!

Sara

#4

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!

#5

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

#6

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.

#7

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! :smiley:

#8

Hi,

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.

Tamar

#9

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! :smiley: 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!