Oh God. I can barely stand to write about this. I had to frog the Stole of Evil this morning. Again. All the way to nothing.
I had progressed to 1.5 repeats. All appeared well. On the last row, I came up with one stitch too many. I counted again, still 81. I spread out the lace to see where I might have been wrong. Couldn't spot it. No problem, I thought, I'll just frog back to the life line. Both life lines were securely in place. No problem!
Problem. As I was counting the stitches after retrieving them from the lifeline, I saw a HOLE. Not an unusually large yarn over, but a HOLE. And two tiny little dropped stitches inside it.
WAY down below the lifelines, near row 5 or 7, by my estimate.
Somehow, despite my careful counting, despite my life lines, despite EVERYTHING I have done to make this work, there were two dropped stitches. Impossible! Except...I did remember thinking that there was one place where the yarn split a bit and the stitches were on the thin side. Apparently it was too thin and it let go.
I am telling myself to be grateful it happened when I was only 18 rows from the start, but still.
I think the Stole of Evil knows I'm trying to conquer it and it's FIGHTING BACK. I'm going to sit down with it today for a few hours and have a stern talk with it. If it still can't behave, I'm afraid I'm going to have to put it in the naughty closet with the other bad projects until it has had enough time to think about its bad behavior and reconsider.
Do you hear me, Stole of Evil? This is your last chance before I hibernate you or possibly even trade you to someone else for better yarn that will behave. Don't mess with me!
Showing posts with label stole. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stole. Show all posts
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Everest Base Camp
Well, I've picked up the Stole of Evil again, after a week-long hiatus.
This was my plan of attack. First, I gathered together all of the necessary equipment:
stitch markers
thread
needle
row counter
waste yarn
project yarn
pattern
post-its
lace circular needles
Amazingly, no sherpas were required, as everything fit neatly into my Lynyrd Skynyrd bag. I re-did the provisional cast on. I am very good at the provisional cast on now due to the numerous times I've cast on this project. I purled the first row and carefully threaded a life line through the stitches. I made sure to leave lots of extra thread at each end to avoid any accidental stitch dropping.
I started the pattern slowly. I said each stitch out loud as I worked it. I read somewhere this was a good idea, so I did it, even though I felt like a fool. It did force me to focus on the pattern. I was pleased to see that the first row of the pattern appeared to be correct. Just to be sure, I counted each purl stitch in the next row. Perfect.
I took another piece of thread and carefully threaded it through the stitches, leaving lots of extra thread on either side. I repeated the process. 4 rows done! I started to think maybe this project was going to get done. I completed the next pattern row and it appeared to be correct, but then, TRAGEDY. As I was purling across the row, I dropped a couple of stitches. I did my best, but when I counted, there was one extra stitch. I couldn't figure out where the mistake was, so I ripped back two rows and redid them. Success! Six rows! It only took me two hours.
I put it down and went out to dinner. I started it back up this evening and managed to add another 4 rows in 2 hours (lots of ripping back, though). Due to the fact that I'm now putting in a life line after every two rows, I have 10 rows that are good. Two more rows and I will have finished an entire pattern repeat. Then I will have only 33 more repeats to go. By my estimate, if things continue as they've started, I will have the center of the stole finished in about 165 hours, give or take. If I can work on the stole 2 hours a day, it will only take me about 85 days to complete. Woo hoo!
Since this stole is my personal Everest, I'm hoping that the first couple of pattern repeats are like Base Camp. When climbers go to Everest, they spend weeks at base camp getting acclimatized to the thin air. They make numerous trips part way up the mountain, only to return to the base camp on the same day. Naturally, I'm slow at the pattern during my Base Camp stay because I'm getting acclimatized to the way of lace knitting. I'm making progress, but in baby steps. Once I get acclimztized, I'm sure (pretty sure) that I'll be moving along much faster.
At least, that's what I'm telling myself. My goal is to finish the stole before I go to Rhinebeck in the fall. No way am I letting a ball of yarn and a 12 row pattern kick my butt. No way. Now, it's personal.
This was my plan of attack. First, I gathered together all of the necessary equipment:
stitch markers
thread
needle
row counter
waste yarn
project yarn
pattern
post-its
lace circular needles
Amazingly, no sherpas were required, as everything fit neatly into my Lynyrd Skynyrd bag. I re-did the provisional cast on. I am very good at the provisional cast on now due to the numerous times I've cast on this project. I purled the first row and carefully threaded a life line through the stitches. I made sure to leave lots of extra thread at each end to avoid any accidental stitch dropping.
I started the pattern slowly. I said each stitch out loud as I worked it. I read somewhere this was a good idea, so I did it, even though I felt like a fool. It did force me to focus on the pattern. I was pleased to see that the first row of the pattern appeared to be correct. Just to be sure, I counted each purl stitch in the next row. Perfect.
I took another piece of thread and carefully threaded it through the stitches, leaving lots of extra thread on either side. I repeated the process. 4 rows done! I started to think maybe this project was going to get done. I completed the next pattern row and it appeared to be correct, but then, TRAGEDY. As I was purling across the row, I dropped a couple of stitches. I did my best, but when I counted, there was one extra stitch. I couldn't figure out where the mistake was, so I ripped back two rows and redid them. Success! Six rows! It only took me two hours.
I put it down and went out to dinner. I started it back up this evening and managed to add another 4 rows in 2 hours (lots of ripping back, though). Due to the fact that I'm now putting in a life line after every two rows, I have 10 rows that are good. Two more rows and I will have finished an entire pattern repeat. Then I will have only 33 more repeats to go. By my estimate, if things continue as they've started, I will have the center of the stole finished in about 165 hours, give or take. If I can work on the stole 2 hours a day, it will only take me about 85 days to complete. Woo hoo!
Since this stole is my personal Everest, I'm hoping that the first couple of pattern repeats are like Base Camp. When climbers go to Everest, they spend weeks at base camp getting acclimatized to the thin air. They make numerous trips part way up the mountain, only to return to the base camp on the same day. Naturally, I'm slow at the pattern during my Base Camp stay because I'm getting acclimatized to the way of lace knitting. I'm making progress, but in baby steps. Once I get acclimztized, I'm sure (pretty sure) that I'll be moving along much faster.
At least, that's what I'm telling myself. My goal is to finish the stole before I go to Rhinebeck in the fall. No way am I letting a ball of yarn and a 12 row pattern kick my butt. No way. Now, it's personal.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
My Personal Everest
When I first joined Ravelry back in February, I spent a lot of time looking at patterns and projects that other people were working on. In doing so, I noticed a few trends. There are sock people, Clapotis people, Entrelac people, color work people, and lace people. There are probably a few more people that I can't think of right now, but you get my drift. Most knitters seem attracted to one specific type of knitting over others. They might dip their toes in a different style of project every now and then, but they always return to their favorite.
My "thing" is color work. I like doing stranded knitting. I'm not sure why it appeals to me, but it's a combination of watching the pattern build as I go along and using multiple colors. It interests me and I love the end product. Once I joined Ravelry, however, I suddenly had access to all sorts of different projects that I'd never really thought about before. It turns out that felting runs a close second to color work in terms of enjoyment for me. There's something really satisfying about knitting a large, grossly misshapen object and then watching it magically shrink into its proper shape at the end. Socks are fun because they're highly portable and a quick knit. I've decided I'm going to keep at least one sock on the needles at all times for traveling purposes.
Ravelry also exposed me to techniques that I've never thought about. I taught myself how to knit in the Continental style, learned several different cast ons and increases/decreases and finally get the importance of gauge. Go, me.
Everything has been positive for me except one: lace knitting. It's my personal Everest. I'm a reasonably intelligent woman, I've been knitting for more than 35 years and I can do almost anything I try...except lace. I really suck at lace. It started with the Branching Out scarf. It's so pretty, and Knitty assured me it was an easy lace pattern. Apparently, the Knitty editors have never met someone like me, because that scarf was the bane of my existence for two months. I finally finished it, but I never once made it through a single pattern repeat without have to rip it back. There was also the Reid Sweater. I think I had to frog and cast on that project at least three times, and still haven't gone beyond the first repeat. That project is in the naughty closet so it can learn how to behave.
Despite those set backs, I somehow thought I could knit a lace pattern in lace weight yarn. For those of you not in the know, lace weight yarn is like embroidery floss, only, you know, made out of wool or alpaca or something. Do you see the contradiction here? I can't knit a simple lace pattern from normal sized wool on a size US 8 needle, but I confidently believe I can easily knit a whole stole using thread and toothpick sized needles.
Needless to say, I have not been successful. I picked a lovely stole pattern called Print o'the Wave. I bought gorgeous alpaca lace weight yarn and used my new provisional cast on skills to cast it on. I never made it through a repeat. You know what happens when you knit with lace weight yarn? It looks kind of like a snarly mass. A more talented knitter might be able to frog back a row or two, but if I do it, I can't tell where to pick up the stitches. Also, my bamboo circulars? WAY too dull for lace weight. Of course, I cast on and frogged at least twice before I fully comprehended these facts.
I went on Ravelry. I carefully read through various tips for lace knitting. Did you look at the stole I'm knitting? The end product is so beautiful, it kept me working on the project. I learned that using Post-it notes on the chart will keep you on track. I read that Addi lace circulars are key to easy knitting. I also learned that threading a "life-line" through a row you know is correct will prevent you from having to frog all the way to the beginning due to the impossibility of seeing the stitches. Frog down to the thread and pick up the stitches! Whee!
I cast on again, worked the first row and threaded in the life line. This way, there is no chance I'll have to redo the somewhat cumbersome provisional cast on again. Go, me. I knit a few rows, counted every stitch across the purl rows and made it to Row 7 of the chart. I finally got my lace Addis, but I was so exhausted from all the frogging and painstaking counting that I just wasn't up to working on the project any more. Everything went into the project bag and I put it aside for two months.
I knit a pair of socks with a lace pattern with relatively few problems. Hey, sock weight yarn isn't that much thicker than lace weight yarn, so maybe I'm getting better! I worked out my own lace pattern for a pair of socks and am knitting merrily along on those. I think I'm ready for the stole again.
Yesterday I made a bunch of pretty little stitch markers. I came up with a plan to mark the end of each pattern repeat across the row so that I would know where each section starts in the event that something went wrong and I needed to count stitches. I pulled out the stole at 5 pm and worked a row to put it on the Addis. The knitting went so much more smoothly! I zoomed through rows 8-12, and on Row 13...disaster. Something was terribly wrong. Counting back did not reveal the mistake, so I knew I had to frog. Sadly, I didn't think to move up the life-line at any point, so I had to frog back to the VERY FIRST ROW.
I started up again. I thought to myself, this is actually a good thing because now I'm knitting on the really good needles and I can make sure my tension is more even. It will actually make the finished project look better.
I knit three rows and frogged back to the first row. I knit five rows and frogged back to the first row. I knit 6 rows and thought "Ha ha! I'm going to move the life line so that I can actually make progress!" Smart move, no? I also thought "I'm going to leave in the original life line just in case!" Good plan.
Here's where everything went wrong. Instead of spending the 1 minute it would take to look through my bag for more thread, I just pulled the bottom life line out a bit and cut it in half. There was plenty of extra thread hanging out both sides. I put in the second life line and knit up to row 11. Something went wrong. No problem, life line!
I ripped back to the second life line and noticed that it had pulled through the last 20 stitches or so. Good thing I have the first life line as a back up. Except that my first life line has also pulled through about a quarter of the stitches. It dawned on me that I was going to have to rip back the entire stole again and do another provisional cast on. I frogged the stole, rewound the yarn and put the whole thing back into the project bag.
When Jim came home from his guys' night out, I said "Do you want to see all the work I did on my stole between 5pm and 11pm?" I pulled out the empty lace needles. Jim said "Not going to well, huh?"
My "thing" is color work. I like doing stranded knitting. I'm not sure why it appeals to me, but it's a combination of watching the pattern build as I go along and using multiple colors. It interests me and I love the end product. Once I joined Ravelry, however, I suddenly had access to all sorts of different projects that I'd never really thought about before. It turns out that felting runs a close second to color work in terms of enjoyment for me. There's something really satisfying about knitting a large, grossly misshapen object and then watching it magically shrink into its proper shape at the end. Socks are fun because they're highly portable and a quick knit. I've decided I'm going to keep at least one sock on the needles at all times for traveling purposes.
Ravelry also exposed me to techniques that I've never thought about. I taught myself how to knit in the Continental style, learned several different cast ons and increases/decreases and finally get the importance of gauge. Go, me.
Everything has been positive for me except one: lace knitting. It's my personal Everest. I'm a reasonably intelligent woman, I've been knitting for more than 35 years and I can do almost anything I try...except lace. I really suck at lace. It started with the Branching Out scarf. It's so pretty, and Knitty assured me it was an easy lace pattern. Apparently, the Knitty editors have never met someone like me, because that scarf was the bane of my existence for two months. I finally finished it, but I never once made it through a single pattern repeat without have to rip it back. There was also the Reid Sweater. I think I had to frog and cast on that project at least three times, and still haven't gone beyond the first repeat. That project is in the naughty closet so it can learn how to behave.
Despite those set backs, I somehow thought I could knit a lace pattern in lace weight yarn. For those of you not in the know, lace weight yarn is like embroidery floss, only, you know, made out of wool or alpaca or something. Do you see the contradiction here? I can't knit a simple lace pattern from normal sized wool on a size US 8 needle, but I confidently believe I can easily knit a whole stole using thread and toothpick sized needles.
Needless to say, I have not been successful. I picked a lovely stole pattern called Print o'the Wave. I bought gorgeous alpaca lace weight yarn and used my new provisional cast on skills to cast it on. I never made it through a repeat. You know what happens when you knit with lace weight yarn? It looks kind of like a snarly mass. A more talented knitter might be able to frog back a row or two, but if I do it, I can't tell where to pick up the stitches. Also, my bamboo circulars? WAY too dull for lace weight. Of course, I cast on and frogged at least twice before I fully comprehended these facts.
I went on Ravelry. I carefully read through various tips for lace knitting. Did you look at the stole I'm knitting? The end product is so beautiful, it kept me working on the project. I learned that using Post-it notes on the chart will keep you on track. I read that Addi lace circulars are key to easy knitting. I also learned that threading a "life-line" through a row you know is correct will prevent you from having to frog all the way to the beginning due to the impossibility of seeing the stitches. Frog down to the thread and pick up the stitches! Whee!
I cast on again, worked the first row and threaded in the life line. This way, there is no chance I'll have to redo the somewhat cumbersome provisional cast on again. Go, me. I knit a few rows, counted every stitch across the purl rows and made it to Row 7 of the chart. I finally got my lace Addis, but I was so exhausted from all the frogging and painstaking counting that I just wasn't up to working on the project any more. Everything went into the project bag and I put it aside for two months.
I knit a pair of socks with a lace pattern with relatively few problems. Hey, sock weight yarn isn't that much thicker than lace weight yarn, so maybe I'm getting better! I worked out my own lace pattern for a pair of socks and am knitting merrily along on those. I think I'm ready for the stole again.
Yesterday I made a bunch of pretty little stitch markers. I came up with a plan to mark the end of each pattern repeat across the row so that I would know where each section starts in the event that something went wrong and I needed to count stitches. I pulled out the stole at 5 pm and worked a row to put it on the Addis. The knitting went so much more smoothly! I zoomed through rows 8-12, and on Row 13...disaster. Something was terribly wrong. Counting back did not reveal the mistake, so I knew I had to frog. Sadly, I didn't think to move up the life-line at any point, so I had to frog back to the VERY FIRST ROW.
I started up again. I thought to myself, this is actually a good thing because now I'm knitting on the really good needles and I can make sure my tension is more even. It will actually make the finished project look better.
I knit three rows and frogged back to the first row. I knit five rows and frogged back to the first row. I knit 6 rows and thought "Ha ha! I'm going to move the life line so that I can actually make progress!" Smart move, no? I also thought "I'm going to leave in the original life line just in case!" Good plan.
Here's where everything went wrong. Instead of spending the 1 minute it would take to look through my bag for more thread, I just pulled the bottom life line out a bit and cut it in half. There was plenty of extra thread hanging out both sides. I put in the second life line and knit up to row 11. Something went wrong. No problem, life line!
I ripped back to the second life line and noticed that it had pulled through the last 20 stitches or so. Good thing I have the first life line as a back up. Except that my first life line has also pulled through about a quarter of the stitches. It dawned on me that I was going to have to rip back the entire stole again and do another provisional cast on. I frogged the stole, rewound the yarn and put the whole thing back into the project bag.
When Jim came home from his guys' night out, I said "Do you want to see all the work I did on my stole between 5pm and 11pm?" I pulled out the empty lace needles. Jim said "Not going to well, huh?"
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