Knit Nite

February 13, 2007 By

I’m LOVING all the contest entries! I love the confessional nature of some of them. I love when people share their stories. And for the record, G and I never celebrate Valentine’s Day. I can barely remember a present or a card even. We don’t even celebrate Thanksgiving – so VDay is really off the radar. Besides, we’re one of those couples you love to hate in that every day around here is VDay. We’re so in looooooooove. (Don’t hate me cause you ain’t me!)

More trip news! Firstly, let me just say that blogging can oftentimes feel like a job. Sure – sometimes it’s a fun job, but sometimes it’s not and don’t let anyone tell you it’s easy to come up with something on a fairly regular basis. I mean, I knit a lot – but I don’t knit THAT much. (Not that I’m really complaining, per se. I know full well that I have CHOSEN to do this. I could take it all down in a second but I would honestly miss it. Breaks are good. For the most part this blog has brought nothing but goodness into my life. THANK YOU for that.) Anyway, when I’m thinking ugh – I have to write something witty and funny and smart and take pretty pictures and knit something fabulous or I know no one will ever read my blog again – my faith in blogging is RESTORED!

I mean, how else would I have ever had the chance to hang out with SUCH fabulous people?! How else? So far now I’ve met bloggers in Maryland, New York, Boston, Chicago, LA, The Peninsula. I’ve met bloggers from Wisconsin, Utah, Georgia, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Pennsylvania. Canada. I’ve met people in my own backyard that have become some of my favorite people in the world – all through this little blog. My trip out to the Central Coast of California was no exception. Or it’s called the Peninsula. Or South Bay. The area just south of San Francisco where all the computers companies reside. Near Stanford University. Seriously – this is THE fiber community. They’ve got like a million shops out there and everyone knows everyone and everyone (from what I could see) likes and RESPECTS everyone and the shops are all in on it with each other and they all carry really different yarns with almost NO overlap. I visited three stores (there are like a million more) and they were all very different in style and layout – but they were all equally warm and inviting and I would’ve been comfortable kicking up my heels and knitting for a while in any one of them.

My knitblogger adventure started Friday night. The incomparable Cookie picked me up and took me to dinner with Nathania, Jeni, and NO BLOG Hannah – who it turns out – is my long, lost twin. (GET OFF THE MYSPACE GIRL and grow up. Get yourself a BLOG!) I’m positive I laughed more than I ate and I was instantly comfortable with everyone. Which is saying a lot for people you’ve never met before (or met for just a little while – DUDES! I was at Nathania’s Bridal Shower!)

After dinner, we walked a few blocks to a coffee shop and hooked up with Kristi, Jocelyn, Freecia, Lu, Lisa, who came out with her gorgeous 2wk old son that seriously made my ovaries ache, Linda and Jill.

We ended up moving to a crepe place a couple doors down because the first place couldn’t accomodate us and we preceded to get thrown out of the crepe place. We’re so bad. HAHAHAHA! No, really, they wanted to close. So then we stood in the street because we could NOT STOP YAPPING. Nathania’s got a picture of us!

The next day, Nona picked me up and we headed out for a yarn crawl with Cookie and Kristi! I was really excited to hang with Nona – I’ve long been a fan of her blog and her new swatch project is INSPIRED! What she can do with a log cabin square just stirs my heart. Our first stop was Full Thread Ahead where Hollis, the owner, was super generous and let us into the Secret Stitches Stash where I picked out the most beautiful yarn I’ve ever seen!

Have you ever? It’s HandMaiden Sea Silk in the Straw colorway (such a pedestrian name!), but let’s be honest here – that’s pure gold folks.

Everyone was in agreement that this was definitely MY COLOR and it was all I could do to stop smelling it and fondling it and generally behaving with it in a very unladylike way. Thank you Hollis! I will definitely use this yarn for something very, very special!

Our next stop was Uncommon Threads – and unfortunately I didn’t get to hang here long enough. The back table was a VERY inviting spot and it would’ve been a lot of fun to hang with the knitters I met back there. And they had fudge. What more could you ask for?

We rushed out of Uncommon Threads so we could get to Purlescence before it closed. Another VERY fine knitting shop! I couldn’t leave empty-handed two stores in a row, so I picked up some Louet Gems and Claudia’s Handpainted for some potential Anemoi Mittens!

I’m thinking of a stained glass effect. We’ll see. After we closed down Purlescence, Kristi, Cookie, Nona and I did what knitters do best – we hung out and knit! Some delicious local flavor and fantastic conversation was the end to a perfect knitty couple of days.

I can’t thank you all enough for taking time out of your busy lives to spend time with me! It was a blast and I loved knitting and talking and hanging with all of you! Anytime you’re in my neighborhood – SHOUT! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Next up tomorrow…. A LEGEND is revealed!

Filed Under: Bloggers, Stash

Home, Sweet Home

February 12, 2007 By

Vacations are great and all, but there’s nothing like being home. The worst part, though, is that G had to go to work today and I miss him so much.

Some highlights from Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, California (click for bigger pictures):

It was overcast and rainy the whole time we were there (the whole trip actually except for the day we left) but it was also broody and dramatic and oh so romantic. In honor of my romantic getaway, I’m going to give away a skein of January One and a skein of G-Rocks to one lucky winner. Plus some other stuff like notecards and chibis and stuff. All you have to do to win is leave me a comment and tell me about your best Valentine’s Day, your worst Valentine’s Day, your first love, your last love, anything goes – heartbreak, love connections – the heart’s the limit. One entry per person please. I’ll close the comments at 11:59 PM EST on February 14th and pick the winner right after.

And if you don’t win, or are in the mood for some Valentine’s Day shopping, don’t forget to check out the Lovely Hearts exhibit. Some of the proceeds for each item in the show will go to fight Breast Cancer. I’ve got a picture in there for the taking.

I have so much to tell you about – knitters I met, yarn I bought, shrines I paid homage to – craziness! Re-entry is a bitch. So instead, I’ll just spend the day missing my boy and looking at pictures.

Filed Under: Contest, Vacations

No Access

February 9, 2007 By

I’ve been blissfully Internet free since Tuesday, but now that we’re safely ensconced in Silicon Valley, I’m back. Big Sur was big and sur and even though it was rainy and foggy and gray it was fantastic. Clothing Optional Japanese Baths. ‘Nuff said.

Judging from my bloglines list, you guys didn’t get the memo about no access – so pick your comment:

— CONGRATULATIONS! That’s GREAT! YAY!

— I’m so so sorry. My thoughts are with you. Big hugs.

— GORGEOUS! Fantastic knit! The fit is PERFECT!

— I”m so so sorry you have to rip. I know just how you feel. In the end you’ll be happier.

— HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

— ugh.

— 😉

That should cover everything, no? I won’t be posting again until I’m home and settled – probably not until Monday night or Tuesday. There will be pictures and stories and bloggers and a shocking lack of knitting. Hope you’ll check in! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

L, C

Filed Under: Blog

Hasta La Vista Baby!

February 5, 2007 By

I was planning on a proper post today, but then I had to go down Philly for a funeral. Graveside. A million degrees below zero. Fun times.

Georgie and I are off on vacay tomorrow at an ungodly hour. I’m not sure how much I’ll be blogging – we need some alone time, my man and I. I hope to have plenty of knitting and possibly some yarn to show you when I get back – and I hope to see a bunch of knitbloggers while I’m out on the left coast. Email me if you’re in the Palo Alto area Friday night.

Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
L, C

Filed Under: Life

This Blogger’s (Silent) Poetry Reading

February 2, 2007 By

in keeping with a theme….

Kissing

They are kissing, on a park bench,
on the edge of an old bed, in a doorway
or on the floor of a church. Kissing
as the streets fill with balloons
or soldiers, locusts or confetti, water
or fire or dust. Kissing down through
the centuries under sun or stars, a dead tree,
an umbrella, amid derelicts. Kissing
as Christ carries his cross, as Gandhi
sings his speeches, as a bullet
careens through the air toward a child’s
good heart. They are kissing,
long, deep, spacious kisses, exploring
the silence of the tongue, the mute
rungs of the upper palate, hungry
for the living flesh. They are still
kissing when the cars crash and the bombs
drop, when the babies are born crying
into the white air, when Mozart bends
to his bowl of soup and Stalin
bends to his garden. They are kissing
to begin the world again. Nothing
can stop them. They kiss until their lips
swell, their thick tongues quickening
to the budded touch, licking up
the sweet juices. I want to believe
they are kissing to save the world,
but they’re not. All they know
is this press and need, these two-legged
beasts, their faces like roses crushed
together and opening, they are covering
their teeth, they are doing what they have to do
to survive the worst, they are sealing
the hard words in, they are dying
for our sins. In a broken world they are
practicing this simple and singular act
to perfection. They are holding
onto each other. They are kissing.

Dorianne Laux
from What We Carry

For more information about the Blogger (Silent) Poetry Reading, please click here. Please feel free to post a poem today that touches you in some way – be it your own, or someone else’s. Have a great weekend!

Filed Under: blogging stuff, Life

Easy Does It

February 1, 2007 By

Enough with the knitting drama already, no? I started the CPH sleeves but you don’t really want to see them, do you? I’ll wait until I’m a bit past the ribbing. It’s just ribbing. Thank you all so much for your support of my tutelage. It’s nice to know that I can spread the knitty love. Win one for the blogs – I never would’ve fixed that miss crossed cable the way I did if I wasn’t writing and reading knitting blogs. I hope none of you will ever need the fix – but if you do – it’s there.

Some random tidbits this afternoon:

Blogless Rachel H. has let me know that some librarians with ties to the knitblog world have weighed in on the whole Bridge to Terabithia movie thing. You can go here to find out what they have to say. Apparently the screenplay was written by Katherine Patterson’s son. While that may save the movie, I doubt I’ll ever see it because that book has a very special spot in my brain and I’m not fucking it up. Anyway – thought I should pass that along.

By the way, I just finished reading The Westing Game and I am astounded at how well it’s written – as an adult and a writer. READ IT. And then go read The Goats by Brock Cole. Another fantastic YA book. This one’s really killer. I’m not sure it’s actually appropriate for children to be honest.

Two commercials that make me hot in a cheesy soft porn kind of way:

DUDE. I am a SUCKER for a good kiss. Seriously – ever since I was a young pre-pubescent I have LOVED the kissing scenes. The easiest way to my heart is to make out with me. Craziness. (The pictures on the Rembrandt website are even better than the commercial.) Gotta get me some of that! Toothpaste, I mean.

The second one is for the new personal lubricant – World of Intrigue. (Oh my god – the website is TOTALLY cheesy!) I couldn’t find a YouTube link to this one which surprises me because it’s absolutely porn. Maybe this is saying too much about me? Who cares….

The last thing I want to say today is that tomorrow is the Blogger (Silent) Poetry Reading. I did it last year, and I’m going to do it again tomorrow. Thanks to Julie for reminding me about it. Get out your poetry books and pick a good one!

L, C

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Tokhes afn tish!*

January 31, 2007 By

You know, theories are grand. Examples are wonderful. Practice makes perfect. But eventually you’ve got to shit or get off the pot. So last night, spurred on by all your accolades for my magic act, I settled down to fix the last cable on my swatch, then move onto my sweater.

Wouldn’t you know it! I FUCKED UP THE SWATCH! I’m not sure what happened, but I did everything exactly like I’d done before and yet there were two pieces of yarn that crossed the bottom cable – I don’t know what they were, I don’t know why they were – but I cut them in an exploratory surgery kind of way and got the fix to sort of work (big holes because I ended up ripping out more than the three stitches across the top.) Great. Just great. My dress rehearsal was a frigging bust. Now what to do? Could I really perform on opening night? When you get no other chances?

Janice told me yes. CUT IT, JUST CUT IT! And to call her when it was over.

I swear to Bacchus I felt nauseous. But I kept telling myself if I messed it up it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Sure I’d risk humiliation in front of all of you – you’d know me for the fraud I really am – but I could live with that. Sort of. I mean, really, I could just take the blog down and disappear. And the sweater, well, the sweater could be reknit. Which is what I thought I’d have to do from the beginning.

So I did it.


And the fucking thing actually worked. Honestly, unless I turn the sweater over and look for the tell tale ends, I don’t know where I fixed it.



I believe in MAGIC!!!



Then:


And now:


On to the sleeves!

*It’s National Use Your Yiddish Day! Just ask my favorite Jewish girls, Margene and Ann

Filed Under: Central Park Hoodie

Janice and Marge

January 30, 2007 By

*** This is a VERY picture heavy post. Hopefully it’s worth it! ***

Yesterday my partner in crime had to work (and when I say work I mean spend all day in a yarn shop knitting. And occasionally selling some yarn.) I was telling her about my blog post, the one where I swore up and down in Latin, and the cell phone connection was sketchy at best. She kept asking me “Who are Janice and Marge?” And I’m all, “I don’t know. Who are Janice and Marge?” It was like that old(ish) cell phone commercial where the wife asks the husband to take a shower and comes home to find the kids covered in flour. You know which one I mean? I’m trying to freaking curse in Latin, telling her about Janus and Mars and she’s asking about two ladies of a certain age who play Mah Jong twice a week. If you must know, Ann insists on being Janice, which I guess leaves me Marge. (Sometimes we talk about taking our show on the road – you know – like having our own podcast, because honestly we’re so fucking funny together. But usually we come to our senses and realize that while in our own minds we’re the next Lucy and Ethel, really we’re more like Wilma and Betty. Just not that funny to anyone else.)

I’m in that whole Never Say Never Again mode because I’m about to rock your world with a tutorial that amazes even me – and I’ve done it (PERFECTLY) twice already. I’ll be trying one more time before I move onto the REAL DEAL. This shit’s like ALCHEMY. Okay – first the props: Thanks to my Janice – always telling me what an ass I am. Stephanie – for letting me know I had options; Margene, who first told me to CUT IT, JUST CUT IT! Then to Jenn, who reminded me that she fixed a cable in the issue of Yarnival I edited. Jenn led me to Vicki in Michigan who actually did CUT IT, JUST CUT IT! Then Margene told me to email Terry, who she thought had also CUT IT, JUST CUT IT! Terry told me to look in the Harmony Guides Knitting Techniques, Volume 1, p. 67 – which I happened to have on my shelf and which told me EXACTLY what to do – even using my cable as the example. Terry also pointed me here – another person who CUT IT, JUST CUT IT! And, of course, to all of you, who definitely have my back. THANK YOU!

Okay. Take a deep breath and prepare to be amazed. Not just from the results, but at how fucking EASY this is. (Click on any and all pictures for a bigger view.)

STEP ONE:
Prepare your instruments. I told G what I did when he got home last night and he told me I was like a surgeon. And it’s true – so sterilize your tapestry needle before performing any cutting.


From left to right we’ve got: two lifelines (any extra yarn you’ve got lying around – preferably a bit smaller so you can get it in and out easy); double pointed needles (yesterday I went to the craft store to pick up some dpns because I have like 2 sets in all of my needles. I bought 9s, 8s and 5s – I’m using 9s for my project, but thought maybe I should use something smaller. I ended up going with the 5s and it was fine); tapestry needle; project yarn for grafting; SCISSORS. Yes, we’re going to CUT IT, JUST CUT IT!

STEP TWO:
Okay. The first step is to isolate the stitches that need to be fixed. But first, let’s show a picture of what the swatch looked like before the fix:


Nothing up my sleeves. 😉 We’re going to be working on the middle cable today. This cable is a 6 stitch cable – I’ve pulled the first three stitches to the FRONT (for a left leaning twist) when I should’ve pulled them to the BACK (for a right leaning twist.) The thing about cables is that the stitches are almost suspended in the air where they twist. You could conceivably slip your finger through the hole that appears once the twist has been made. For instance:


I’ve slipped the dpn through the hole so that I can isolate the middle row on top of the cable. It’s the only row that isn’t really attached to any other knitting. There are three stitches there. I’m going to cut the MIDDLE stitch.


STEP THREE:
Now that I know which stitch I need to cut, I want to anchor the rows above and below the middle row – these are going to be the stitches I graft together, so I want to make sure they’re safe. I do this by threading a life line through both rows.


I used a yarn that was smoother and thinner than the yarn I’m using for my project – it’s also a contrasting color. Things you might want to consider when choosing your scrap yarn. I also like to use a lot of yarn in these instances – this minimizes the chance that the lifeline will slip out. Great! Now comes the FUN PART!

STEP FOUR:
CUT IT! JUST CUT IT! Yes, my friends, we’re going to cut the stitch. Which, I’ve got to admit, wasn’t that hard and was strangely exciting. Like you’re doing something really really really wrong but it feels kind of good at the same time. TABOO. Alright. Calm down Janice. Before we cut the yarn, we want to double and triple and quadruple check that we’ve got the right stitch to cut. WE’RE ONLY CUTTING ONE STITCH! It’s the MIDDLE one. Okay? THE MIDDLE ONE.


Good! We’ve identified the middle one. Identified it again. And again. And then lit a candle to Athena. Now we can cut.



SNIP!

STEP FIVE:
Breathe. Breathe. It’s only yarn. We can reknit it. We can make it better than it was before. Knit it stronger. Now you’ll need your DPNs. You can pull the cut stitch a little bit, but I prefer to put the newly live stitches on the dpns before I really separate the cut yarn.


Once the stitches are on the dpns, you can take your tapestry needle and unravel the cut yarn. It’s all going to open up so nicely. And what you’re going to see below the stitches you just unraveled are the stitches that were twisted BEHIND the cable stitches on the top. They look all nice and neat and completely untouched. Just the way we want them to be.

STEP SIX:
Here’s where we re-twist the cable. What we’re going to do is SLIP the DPN with the stitches on it BEHIND the untouched stitches.



This part is a little bit fiddly because you need to get the DPN completely behind the stitches that will now be on TOP of the cable twist. When you’ve gotten one DPN all the way through – so that you now have all three stitches UNDER the new cable twist and at the BACK of the swatch (project) – maneuver the second DPN the same way. Now you’ve got the six live stitches in the BACK.


STEP SEVEN:
Now we need to somehow attach those live stitches together. I’m going to say the word that people seem to hate: KITCHENER. I actually LOVE to kitchener stitch. Think it’s so freaking cool (again with the knitting alchemy) and have it completely memorized. So I kitchenered the live stitches together using a fairly long strand of project yarn.


(Thanks G for the picture!) All I did here was kitchener the six stitches together leaving a pretty long string hanging down. Basically we’re putting back the row of stitches we cut out. Here’s what the back looks like after kitchenering.


Not bad huh. If you need to learn how to kitchener, there are about a million internet sites to teach you. Here’s one I like. Okay, moving on.

STEP EIGHT:
Now you’ve got four strands hanging out in the back of your work:


All that’s left to do is weave in those ends. Chances are your cable butts up against at least a couple of purl stitches on the front – which leaves you knit stitches on the back which are SO easy to weave into. For the shorter strands – the ones from the cut stitch – I like to weave the tapestry needle through the stitches first, then thread in the short yarn and pull it through. I really didn’t have any problems weaving everything in. See?


And here’s how it looks when you flip it over.


And here’s how the swatch looks:


And here’s how I look knowing I can fix my sweater and have it look absolutely perfect without having to rip back pretty much the whole thing:


Still scary but much, much happier! Can you believe how easy this is and how fucking fantastic it looks? I’ve done it exactly twice now and both times it’s been so easy and comes out PERFECT. I will be trying it on the one last cable on the swatch – because it’s in the same position as the cable on my sweater, but I’m pretty confident it won’t be that big of a deal to cut the stitch on my sweater. I HIGHLY recommend making a swatch and practicing first before you attempt this on an actual project. I hope this tutorial helps you. When I called Janice last night to tell her that I had FUCKING DONE IT AND IT’S PERFECT, she said now aren’t you glad you made that mistake? Don’t you feel all empowered? And yes, I felt incredibly powerful. Which is kind of odd because all I did was snip a little stitch on something that I could easily have knit over again. But I guess it’s that I took control and FIXED it. I BOSSED MY KNITTING AROUND. Here’s to the power of knitting. And to an amazing community of knitters. Thank you!

PS – There’s an excellent chance that someone who comments on this post will hit a BIG number for me. That person will win a prize. It might be this post, it might not be, but it’s coming. Have fun!

PPS – THE NUMBER’S BEEN HIT! Loribird left the 18000th comment on the blog! I’ve been waiting for this for a while now – and it’s totally appropriate that it came today because 18=LIFE and I just breathed new life into my knitting. Thanks for reading everyone! I really appreciate it!

Filed Under: Tutelage

The First Cut Is The Deepest

January 29, 2007 By


I got it perfect on the first try baby! I haven’t fixed the actual sweater – I want to try again on the other two cables to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Details sometime tomorrow, but rest assured – tonight I will sleep well.

Filed Under: Central Park Hoodie

Perfection

January 29, 2007 By

How was your weekend? Mine started off pretty good. I worked hard on Friday and rewarded myself Friday night by finishing up the back of my CPH. Georgie brought home some EXCELLENT take-out and I slept pretty well. The next morning I headed off to a job – where I was greeted by another sappy song on the CD player left by my fantabulous husband (“God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys) and where I successfully drove to the job by MYSELF (this is an accomplishment in my phobia ridden life.) The baby was a cutie pie, the parents were nice and I came home and knit away the afternoon, finishing up one of the fronts on the CPH. We went out that night to see some old friends and it was okay, but there was lots of cancer talk because some people only knew about the hip surgery that never happened, not the cancer stuff, so I ended up drinking more than I should have and I came home drunk and went to bed. Woke up a bit hungover – nothing really bad, just blechy, but even though I was feeling like crap I STILL WENT OUT AND RAN!! (I think we can say this is a habit now. I may actually be starting to see some body changes as well.)

The rest of the afternoon was spent nursing a killer headache (I ALWAYS get a headache before it snows. Without fail. This was not a wine headache.) and packing up socks for virgins. (US Virgins – you should get your yarn this week. NON-US Virgins – maybe next week? And all virgins have been accounted for – but I appreciate the volunteers.) Then I settled into the couch to finish up the second front of my CPH.


It was going well – I was happy with the changes I had made to the pattern: doing the fronts and backs together up to the arm holes. Switching out the bound off shoulders for short row shoulders (directions here and here.) And I was thrilled that I could incorporate these changes without a lot of muss or fuss – really feeling like I’ve grown as a knitter.


I cruised along – would I start the hood next, or leave it and go to the sleeves? I dreamed of wearing this on the beaches at Big Sur, the hood up, the sea whipping around me. Still LOVING the yarn. Still loving the pattern. Still loving the knitting.


Even with the headache – the night was going to end well. Knitting had saved me once again. La la la la la….

ZZZZZZIIIIIIPPPPPP! (Insert the sound of someone scratching the fucking needle across the record.) WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?


I was comparing the two fronts – making sure I had put the first cable on the holder at the right row when something looked…how shall I say it…OFF.


JUPITER’S C*NT!!!! (Been watching too much Rome. Sorry – but we only take Roman Gods‘ names in vain now.)




I thought I was going to throw up. Georgie immediately knew something was very wrong. Was it the violent cursing? The hurling of the sweater across the room? He says I just should’ve taken a picture of my face when I realized what had happened. I didn’t. But let’s just say I looked something like this:


What happened though, really, was that I gasped as if I were dying, let out some stuff about Janus and Mars performing unspeakable acts, and called Ann. Boar answered the phone and asked me if I was okay – I sounded depressed. I mumbled something about headaches and snow and Ann got on the phone and said what’s the matter honey? And I may have started crying, or talking about Hades’ asshole or something, and I’m pretty sure she didn’t laugh. She told me I had three (or four – but now I can’t remember the fourth) options. 1) I could rip the fucker back to it’s bare freaking bones; 2) I could try to fix the cable in one of two ways; or 3) I could ignore it and keep knitting.

All my previous choices for this sweater suddenly seemed very VERY wrong. You see, the cable that’s twisted wrong is way down town. WAY down town.


I thought I was so fucking smart to do the back and fronts in one piece. SO FUCKING SMART. You know what, if I had just followed the pattern and done it all in pieces the whole ripping it out and fixing would have ABSOLUTELY been the answer. I could’ve ripped out the front and knit it back up in a day – two days – at the most. And I swear to you that’s what I would’ve done had I knit the thing in pieces. But I didn’t knit the thing in pieces. I knit it in ONE PIECE. Ripping it means this:


Ann and I both remembered a post from Stephanie a while ago that talked about fixing a mis-twisted cable. We both headed to the computer to look. Stephanie says the proper way is to drop down and reknit the stitches – of course she’s talking about six rows. And honestly? If I had miscrossed a cable six rows back that sucker would’ve been ripped before you could twist Minerva’s tit. I have no problems ripping and reknitting to get something right. And honestly, I tried to fix a cable earlier in the sweater – isolated it and ripped it back and tried to reknit it and it looked like shit. The second option that Stephanie talks about is fudging the cable – duplicate stitching OVER it to make it seem like it’s twisted in the right direction. She says to use this (and I quote)

…for miss-crosses very far down. Too far down. Too far down with other cables stacked on top of them creating complications. It’s for when you have knit a whole stinking back of an aran for a 7 foot tall 500 pound man and you find a miss-crossed cable on row 9.

It is for when you know that you will not be able to live with the mistake, but you know that you can’t live with ripping back either.
It is a last resort. It is voodoo.

Um. You think? Please, please! I need the voodoo that you do so well! Ann and I decided that I should at least try this before I ripped the whole thing back. So we found some websites talking about backstitch and duplicate stitch because at that point my head hurt so bad I don’t think I could’ve knit a garter stitch scarf if I tried. In fact, I was so distraught over the whole thing I folded laundry instead of knitting. Later on, I did pick up a sock, but the yarn was so thin and the needles so small after the Beaverslide on 9s for days on end, I felt like I was all thumbs and just put it down. People. I FOLDED LAUNDRY. That should give you a clue as to how bad it is.

If you’re looking for the happy ending in all of this, I haven’t fixed it yet. I did try the backstitch part of the equation and it worked pretty well and then I ripped it out – but I’m going to have to practice duplicate stitch. I think in theory this should work – but if it doesn’t – if I don’t like how it looks – I’m going to rip it out and reknit. You may think I’m completely insane, and I don’t blame you if you do, but there is NO WAY I could live with the mistake. It will absolutely RUIN the sweater for me. The fact that I KNEW I could fix it – KNEW I could just reknit the thing and make it right – well, that’s all I need to know. I’ve been enjoying knitting the sweater – as I said before – I love the yarn and it will hold up perfectly to ripping (don’t ask me how I know) so in my mind there is absolutely NO excuse for NOT reknitting. I’m going to try the fix, because as Ann tried to convince me, it will be new skills. And if it looks okay then fine. But I’ll still always know it’s there. Accepting that might actually be the greatest lesson learned in all of this. Wish me luck.

ETA: Margene just told me about a fourth option – cutting the three stitches that go over the wrong way and bringing the back stitches to the front. Then knitting a couple of rows and kitchenering the cut stitches in the back. I’m going to swatch and try this. Hopefully I’ll have something to show you soon. I’m taking my time with this though – so don’t hold your breath.

ETA2: LOOK WHAT I FOUND! Via Yarnival, via Jenn.

Filed Under: Central Park Hoodie
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