Hey Everyone. Hope all is well in your Universe. Soo...... Let me start by saying this, "If you are feeling lousy and take meds, do NOT start a project." I should have taken my own advice on Fri! So, last Fri. I was NOT feeling that hot. Bit of a cold, foggy head, sore throat....... I started designing and working on a scarf...worked on it for 4 hoursish. Late in the day realized that I wasn't loving it so I frogged it. For those unfamiliar with the term "frogging"......Frogging is to basically rip out all that you have knit and start over again. It can also apply to ripping back a couple of rows. But you get the idea.
A painful process by sure, however, it would be way more painful if I left a project I just didn't like or was just plain WRONG. It's like ripping a band-aid off...sometimes you just have to do it quickly and get it over with. So I ripped the scarf I was working on back to nothing. Had some dinner and started thinking about my next idea for this yarn..... Martha Stewarts Extra Soft...and it really is. I have knit with it a couple of times..... here and here
So there I was in bed, casted on for a cowl and away I went. You know how it is when you are feeling lousy? Sometimes sleep just does not want to come. So I decided to knit while watching A Knights Tale. It is the kind of movie that if it is on TV I will watch it. Love Heath Ledger in it. Absolutely adore James Purefoy in it and I would be remiss if I didn't mention loving Paul Bettany as Jeffery Chaucer as well(one of my favourite roles of his). So at the end of the movie...at Midnight as I put my knitting down for the night I noticed something odd about the cowl. As it was laying on my floor next to me it didn't seem to look right. So I picked it up........and.... within moments I knew without a doubt what was the matter, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and opened my eyes again hoping without hope that my lovely cowl had magically righted itself. But alas, NO!! What was the issue you ask??? Well....the cowl I am making is being knit horizontally...meaning that I have a boat load of stitches....288 of them to be exact to make this lovely cowl. It is knit in the ROUND on a circular needle. Any idea yet as to what I did?? Yep, you got it! When I joined the two ends to knit in the round it was twisted!! TWISTED! I suppose I could have thrown it across the room. I suppose I could have railed at the Knitting Gods.....but alas I just groaned and asked myself, "HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?" For those who knit, you know how madding this can be. For those of you unfamiliar with knitting in the round......when you cast on your stitches you do so in a straight line, you then join the two ends by joining two stitches. Now when you knit you do so in "the round" and you will be knitting a tube. In all the years I have been knitting.... Oh about 38 of them now....I can honestly say that I have never done this-twisted my knitting that is. Or at least I can't recall ever having done this. When I join the two ends I check, re-check and triple check!! I suppose I could blame the cold meds I was on....yes that's it......it was the Advil Cold and Flu!! Well it does say to be careful and not operate any machinery....does knitting needles count?? Perhaps they should put that on the label...."do not attempt to design or knit as this may lead to uneccessary Frogging!!" I suppose I could have left it twisted so that it acted like a Moebius.....you know....never ending with a twist....however this was not supposed to be in the original design. So I Frogged that too! Frogged 2 projects in one day-record perhaps?? I tried to laugh it off. And at that moment my lovely man asked me, "how many stitches do you think you ripped back today?"
I sat there and thought about it...between the scarf I didn't like and now the cowl.....probably 10,000stitches! That does seem like a lot to "Frog". But you see, when it isn't right, it just isn't right. I HAD to start over. And that is just what I did. So over the weekend....with me being in bed most of Sat. and "watching a movie"on Sun I was able to do the following.......... 288 stitches per row.........48 Rows......=13,824 stitches!! I had to recheck that number as it seems like so much.........I have completed 3 repeats of my pattern......there is 16 rows to a repeat...so 16x3=48rows.......yep.......13,824!!! Wholly Moly!! I won't have to go much further as I have only one more repeat to do. I have to wait to get one more ball as I have run out and the store isn't open yet.. It won't take the whole ball but I want to do just one more repeat to finish it off......so....... only 2,304 stitches to go. I should finish it today. I will be writing it up in the next day or two and put it up on Ravelry for everyone to see...as well as here of course! Here's a sneak peek:
So what's the lesson in all this? Don't operate knitting needles while under the influence of cold meds!!
Have a great day everyone!
Megan
A painful process by sure, however, it would be way more painful if I left a project I just didn't like or was just plain WRONG. It's like ripping a band-aid off...sometimes you just have to do it quickly and get it over with. So I ripped the scarf I was working on back to nothing. Had some dinner and started thinking about my next idea for this yarn..... Martha Stewarts Extra Soft...and it really is. I have knit with it a couple of times..... here and here
So there I was in bed, casted on for a cowl and away I went. You know how it is when you are feeling lousy? Sometimes sleep just does not want to come. So I decided to knit while watching A Knights Tale. It is the kind of movie that if it is on TV I will watch it. Love Heath Ledger in it. Absolutely adore James Purefoy in it and I would be remiss if I didn't mention loving Paul Bettany as Jeffery Chaucer as well(one of my favourite roles of his). So at the end of the movie...at Midnight as I put my knitting down for the night I noticed something odd about the cowl. As it was laying on my floor next to me it didn't seem to look right. So I picked it up........and.... within moments I knew without a doubt what was the matter, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and opened my eyes again hoping without hope that my lovely cowl had magically righted itself. But alas, NO!! What was the issue you ask??? Well....the cowl I am making is being knit horizontally...meaning that I have a boat load of stitches....288 of them to be exact to make this lovely cowl. It is knit in the ROUND on a circular needle. Any idea yet as to what I did?? Yep, you got it! When I joined the two ends to knit in the round it was twisted!! TWISTED! I suppose I could have thrown it across the room. I suppose I could have railed at the Knitting Gods.....but alas I just groaned and asked myself, "HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?" For those who knit, you know how madding this can be. For those of you unfamiliar with knitting in the round......when you cast on your stitches you do so in a straight line, you then join the two ends by joining two stitches. Now when you knit you do so in "the round" and you will be knitting a tube. In all the years I have been knitting.... Oh about 38 of them now....I can honestly say that I have never done this-twisted my knitting that is. Or at least I can't recall ever having done this. When I join the two ends I check, re-check and triple check!! I suppose I could blame the cold meds I was on....yes that's it......it was the Advil Cold and Flu!! Well it does say to be careful and not operate any machinery....does knitting needles count?? Perhaps they should put that on the label...."do not attempt to design or knit as this may lead to uneccessary Frogging!!" I suppose I could have left it twisted so that it acted like a Moebius.....you know....never ending with a twist....however this was not supposed to be in the original design. So I Frogged that too! Frogged 2 projects in one day-record perhaps?? I tried to laugh it off. And at that moment my lovely man asked me, "how many stitches do you think you ripped back today?"
I sat there and thought about it...between the scarf I didn't like and now the cowl.....probably 10,000stitches! That does seem like a lot to "Frog". But you see, when it isn't right, it just isn't right. I HAD to start over. And that is just what I did. So over the weekend....with me being in bed most of Sat. and "watching a movie"on Sun I was able to do the following.......... 288 stitches per row.........48 Rows......=13,824 stitches!! I had to recheck that number as it seems like so much.........I have completed 3 repeats of my pattern......there is 16 rows to a repeat...so 16x3=48rows.......yep.......13,824!!! Wholly Moly!! I won't have to go much further as I have only one more repeat to do. I have to wait to get one more ball as I have run out and the store isn't open yet.. It won't take the whole ball but I want to do just one more repeat to finish it off......so....... only 2,304 stitches to go. I should finish it today. I will be writing it up in the next day or two and put it up on Ravelry for everyone to see...as well as here of course! Here's a sneak peek:
So what's the lesson in all this? Don't operate knitting needles while under the influence of cold meds!!
Have a great day everyone!
Megan
