I saw something in AARP article about knitting and I love to share it with you all
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Lastly this is what I have been working on. Remember I accidentally undo the shawl that I was working on. Now I start over. New yarn is so much softer
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Knitting has helped me tremendously with managing pain. I like that it gives me something to focus on. Thanks for posting the article.
Your new shawl looks very soft!
You are not the only one undoing knitting. I took apart a full sweater today, I was cursing my weaving in as it was quite tricky to get the seams apart. I’m going to make a different pattern with the yarn. I just cast on the back and worked a few rows, a very simple plain cardigan. I am hoping I chose the right size.
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Wow! Good that I am not alone. I almost cried when I was told that I shouldn’t have undo it. But glad now because I feel like I am learning by redoing.
You are right because my fingers don’t hurt much and is stronger than when I started to knit. I hope I get to see what you ended up knitting. Now I am eager to see
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Undoing knitting is just part of knitting, perhaps we undo a little, a single stitch which hasn’t caught the yarn strand correctly, or perhaps we undo a lot, my entire sweater to reuse the yarn on something which i hope will be more to my liking. Either can be valid.
Learning to use life lines, how to tink (undoing one stitch at a time) and how to frog in a controlled way (undoing lots but perhaps not all) have been the most important parts of my learning i think.
I left my unfavourable sweater a couple of weeks andntried it on seceral times, i thought about it a lot, what i might do to finish it ip or change it and eventually i decided the right thing was to frog it all.
It’s ok to undo, it’s also ok to continue with a few mistakes, learn to fix or hide them or accept they are part of the hand made process.
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Understand. It is my least favorite part.
I’ve been frogging again!
After undoing a full sweater I used the yarn for a new cardigan pattern. Back, two fronts and a sleeve finished… and I looked at the sleeve and wondered why it was so big, I checked the pattern and the sleeve measured correctly, just way way bigger than expected. It didn’t look like the fit in the pattern pictures at all.
So, I frogged the sleeve this morning, calculated my own sleeve and made a new one. It looks ok, I won’t know for sure until I seam it. Fingers crossed!
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Most of the stuff I knit I donate to charity. I just finished this blanket tonight. It needs some blocking, but I am happy with it. I have some baby sweaters to finish and some shawls and hats all to be donated around Christmas.
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Oh cute! A ballet dancer. Someone will be very lucky to get this.
That’s so kind of you to make these donations. They are sorely needed now and always. Thank you.
I can’t believe after all the time it takes to knit a sweater that you can just undo the entire thing and start over. I would be crying the whole time. Well no, I can’t envision myself doing that at all. It would sit in a drawer somewhere for eternity. Kudos to you!!
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Can you “pin” the sleeve together with markers, to check the fit before you finish it? Or roughly sew it up, using crochet cotton? That might give you a better idea if you need to change it more or not.
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Better to undo it and be able to reuse or donate the yarn, rather than let it sit in that drawer, yes? Or else find someone who would like the sweater as it is.
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You’re right. I have done that with some socks I knitted. Gifted them to a friend. Unfortunately, I have a tendency to realize that I’m not happy with something & just stop knitting and put in a bin of yarn. I have several projects like that. I really need to make another plan for that yarn.
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I also have things sitting in drawers, finished, which i do not wear. I’ve given away perhaps half or more of what I’ve made and other things I keep for different reasons. One sweater which i spent a huge amount of time on was destroyed in the laundry (I have carer/cleaner and unfortunately my sweater felted and shrank) and i did feel horrible about it. I kept it for a long time, it was painful to see it but it reminded me i wanted to remake it in a different, laundry-safe, yarn and eventually i did remake it with lots of design improvements too. It’s one of my fav sweaters. The original then went in the bin.
There’s a disparity berween what i enjoy knitting and what i want to wear and i am always trying to find a compromise or solution. I have set myself a goal only to make things i really think I will wear. The full sweater i frogged, well i just realised when i was really honest with myself that it didn’t fulfil the criteria i had for this sweater. I wanted a very light weight cardigan, the yarn is cotton linen viscose, good for summer, but the sweater was really heavy. Add to that the seams were a bit ugly the sleeve cap a bit ugly the sleeve a bit big at the upper arm, body a bit too long. There were things i could fix, like length, but ultimately it was never going to be what wanted.
The new one I’m making is on larger needles, more open stockinette so overall less yarn, lighter, shorter. It’s much closer to what I needed. And it is a very straight forward plain stockinette, nothing fancy like your beautiful red lace cardigan, so it is very quick and easy. [I made the same mistake twice in one day, the beautiful lace cardi is from @Liltylady and the impossible socks are from @KnittinGigi I’m going to blame brain fog. You both had a knitting break and you both made projects I’d find impossible, I’m afraid my brain fog merged you into a single person. My apologies!]
I don’t particulalry enjoy frogging but i have come to accept it as part of knitting and i have found some methods of approaching it which help me. A big one is to put aside for a short while to be sure about it, another is reminding myself that the new item is always better than the frogged one. Don’t get me wrong though, i have been known to make six sleeves for one sweater and I really do frustrate myself with most projects!
Second sleeve almost finished so I’ll be basting (is that the right word?) soon to check the length before adding my rib bands.
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Thank you.
Yes, I did. I used the orignal to wrap around my arm to how i wanted it to fit and counted the stitches. I’ve made the new sleeve two thirds of the size, temporarily seamed and it’s a good fit, not 100% sure on length until I get it attached to the body which has a wide shoulder (me and my shoulder width!). Bound off but ball attached in case I need a few more rows.
Fingers crossed!
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Yes, “baste” means roughly sewing something together, either to try it on, or to hold various parts in position for easier sewing. In sewing, it’s often more accurate than pinning, especially with slippery or clingy fabrics like satin or velvet.
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I tend to do full seaming (rather than rough sewing) but with embroidery thread so i can remove it easily. I should try to call this basting more often! My sewing knowledge is zero!
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Well, by “roughly”, I mostly mean using longer stitches than for the finished item. It holds well enough to try it on, but goes much faster and pulls out easily. Often done with plain white thread when working on fabrics. In my work as a tailor, we would often baste many layers of fabric together before fitting a jacket. There’s the main fabric, but also several layers of stiffening in the front of a coat, plus things like shoulder pads. We’d also baste marks for where we intended to put the pockets…in this photo they did this with “tailor tacks”.
After the fitting the whole thing comes completely apart again. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t bother me too much to have to rip back my knitting–I’m used to backing up in order to go forward!
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I just read your message and chuckled pretty well all the way through. My problem has always been that ai don’t like what I make for myself, I had one cardigan that I frogged three times and after the three times, finally finished only to try to make it longer. While doing that I finally realized I hated the colour on me and gave the whole unfinished thing away to the Thrift store, with a lot of yarn. Whomever got that could probably have made a coat.
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