The Big Tink - Step by Step

#1. Knit over to where the mistake is and put a stitch holder on your needle so you don't lose good stitches as you work on your repair.

#2. Drop the necessary stitches.
I dropped one full 12 stitch repeat to make sure I didn't make any mistakes following my pattern. Do this one or two stitches at a time - carefully is the byword here.

Since this is lace, I made sure to drop back to a purl row, that way I knew I had the right number of stitches and they were all the same. Dropping back to a knit row would have meant coping with yarn overs and knit togethers - why do that if you don't have to? The green locking stitch marker neatly holds the strands I've unravelled. It keeps the strands from tangling and me from using the wrong strand to knit with.

#3. Place the dropped stitches on a dpn one by one as you unravel them.
I've read that you should put the dropped stitches on a dpn that's a size or two smaller than the original needle. I don't agree with this as it boogers up my tension, so I use the same size. It makes it a little tougher to do the last couple of stitches in the group, but I think it looks better in the end. If you have trouble picking up the stitches with the working size needle, use a smaller one, then transfer them.

#4. Put a stitch holder on the needle you haven't gotten to yet so those stitches are secure as well.
The only loose stitches should be the ones you've dropped on purpose. (Since I was knitting this on a circular needle, I just pulled the two sides of the needle through so the stitches were on the cable instead of the needle - I'm kinda lazy.)

#5. Knit.
Carefully select the correct strand of yarn by seeing which is closest to the dpn your stitches are on. Take that one strand out of the locking stitch marker and using another dpn knit it as per your pattern. I use my pinky to control the tension until there is too little yarn to grip, then I pinch it between index finger and thumb.


#6. Purl.
I purl back to try to keep my technique as similar to the original knitting as possible. Purling back is also a good idea because your tension might be different at the beginning of a row where you have more yarn to work with than at the end of the row when the yarn is tight. Working both ways will help even this out a bit. If you hate purling, it is possible to knit the purl rows too by not turning your work and always starting at the right hand side since the work in on dpn's.

#7. Tah-dah!
When you have completed all of your reknitting, just take the stitch holder off your right hand needle, knit the stitches off the dpn, then move on to the left needle.

Your repair probably won't look identical to your original knitting, but massage it a bit both while it's dry and when it's blocking, and nobody besides yourself will ever be able to tell. (Unless, of course, you point it out to another knitter, who will say, "Oh, yeah, I see," but be impressed nonetheless.)

The Big Tink

I'm knitting on a deadline. You know what that means... Big Time Screw-ups. I was eight rows past the boo-boo before I realized I'd made it.

Evil Language!

The pattern has a twelve stitch repeat, so I dropped the whole repeat that I'd slaughtered down eight rows and stuck the stitches on a dpn. I'm going to wait until it's light tomorrow to try to reknit so I can photograph and blog the joyous experience.

Cross fingers for me.

Still Knittin'

Though my fingers may not have been typing lately, they have kept busy with knitting. Here's the apropos section from my Ravelry projects page. Have about a half dozen other things in progress as well.

I'm afraid I read like I knit. Right now I have 15 library books checked out. I'm in the middle of three, have finished one and read bits and pieces of most of the others. (Or, if I'm really honest, looked at the pictures. What? I like pictures.)

Is it any wonder I have trouble keeping track of things?

I Thought It Was Just a Fling...

but it looks like it's going to be a long term relationship.

Last week was World Wide Knit in Public Week, so Saturday I went to the most L of my LYS's, Blazing Needles, to do just that. Cynthia, the owner, was totally geared up, she had food and drink, lots of extra chairs and temporary tattoos for her knitters. Since Blazing Needles has a way cool logo, I immediately stuck out my arm.

Woo-hoo, I be bad to the needles!

Got some real double takes as I went about the rest of my day's activities. It was fun. The Engineer thought it was atrocious, which was also fun. What good is a spouse if you don't tease him occasionally?

Well, 52 hours, two showers, several spot washings and a couple of body lotion scrubs later, it looks like I'm in this for the long haul.
And it's to dang warm for long sleeves, so it's gunna show.

Dye Lots

I bought some stuff from KnitPicks.com a few weeks ago and to get my order up over the $50 mark (FREE Shipping, don't yah know) I bought one skein of "Last Chance Colors" yarn. 462 yards/100 grams of 75% wool, 25% nylon sock yarn in kettle dyed "Grasshopper" colorway - $6.99, not bad.

It arrived promptly and I liked it.

Then I stepped on my size 4 needle and broke it.
Yes, I should know better than to try on the tabi toe socks while they're still on the needles, but how else am I going to know if the toes are long enough and when it's time to turn the heel.

So, since I had to order new size 4 Harmony needles from Knit Picks, I decided to get four more skeins of that nice Grasshopper sock yarn. That would be enough to make a dandy big shawl.

The KnitPicks box arrived promptly.

The new skeins of yarn are not the same color. Nor are they in the same format. The first skein was "Stroll", the sock yarn formerly known as "Essential." The second order was that former yarn known as "Essential." Same yarn, really, except for the dye lot. The four new skeins are yellower and less variegated than the original skein. I don't like them as well.

Ah well, live and learn. And four skeins, 1,848 yards, is still more than enough to make a dandy big shawl. With the favorite skein left over for getting creative -- socks, hat, scarf, mittens, who knows what it will become.

Where Have I Been?

I really am trying to crawl out...

Yarn Lust Redux

Almost since learning to knit two years ago, I have been afflicted with a serious case of yarn lust. I've always had the potential. I've never been able to walk through a fabric store without running my hand over the bolts of cloth and fantasizing, I've always loved buttons and fine papers, things that seduce my sight, touch and other senses.

I have boxes in my office closet of fabrics of vintages from my undergrad years to current. I have beads and pheasant hackles, art paper and jewelry findings, paints and markers, clay tools and macrame cord.

The yarn lust didn't overwhelm me immediately upon learning to purl. I'd learned to knit in grade school, but wasn't able to wrap my mind around purling until I went at it Continental style two years ago. The yarn for my first few projects came from my closet boxes (yes, I already had some yarn from college days as well as my Mother-in-law's antiquated stash) and JoAnn's. Then I discovered real yarn stores and all hope of abstaining from gratuitous yarn purchases was dead.

Now looking at my stash page on Ravelry, it shows I have 175 individual yarns stashed, 30 "used", 1 that I'm willing to trade or sell (anybody out there want 5 skeins bright red-orange eyelash yarn?) and 8 "traded/sold/gifted". Which makes a grand total of 214.

Geeze louise!

What's really sad is I think it's contagious... She's got a thing for alpaca. It's a good thing cats don't carry credit cards.