2.22.2010

Citron complications.

So I got my Knit Picks Options last week. I was so excited to slip the Citron over to them and start working on it I screwed up my pattern. The slipping was fine. Starting section 3 was great. The Citron slides around smoothly on the cable, no snags, no bunches. The needles are a little slick, I prefer mine to have a bit of grippyness to them, but overall they're great. And it comes with TWO 24" cables and TWO 32" cables so I still have extra cables laying about if I want to cast on something else if I get bored. Yay.

But anyway, back to the Citron. I started section 3. I did the increases for row 1. Then I did row 2 in pattern. Then I did the k2tog row and then did another row in pattern and then I realized that I skipped...oh about 5 pattern rows that come before the k2tog row. Doh! (Actually in my brain it was more 'shitshitfuckcockersuckermotherfucker') I thought I was epically screwed. I couldn't unknit a row of k2tog! I really didn't want to frog the whole thing. That's a lot of work with little tiny yarn! Then I remembered those little thing called lifelines. I'm not sure what kind of pansy ass would need to do a lifeline on a project like Citron, but apparently that pansy ass would be me. I took my next smallest needle from the options (the smallest needle left in the set) my second 24 cable (yay for two cables!) and carefully tried to pick up what I thought were the stitches from the original increase row for section 3. Approximately 3 rows down. It wasn't pretty, and the frogging of those 3 rows resulted in broken yarn at least once. But it was done and pretty close to the actual stitch count (I.E. Good Enough).

That row isn't quite as pretty as I'd like it to be now, but once the whole thing is finished I doubt it'll be that noticeable. And I learned how to fix a stupid mistake that I would've easily thrown across the room in frustration before. I think that's called Growing Up.

So I've got that going on, and I started another pair of socks (I don't know why, I was just bored and wanted to cast on for something while waiting on the options). They are Hedera socks. I'm not entirely convinced that the socks look like the ones in the picture, but it's hard to tell as I'm knitting them with the midnight blue knit pick's gloss yarn. I know I'm doing the pattern right, it just looks...different. I'm not even sure I love the pattern. It's interesting but the Love At First Sight feeling isn't there like it was with the Spring Forward socks. Maybe they'll wind up being a gift in the future. That is if they ever get finished. I've only got oh...4 projects going right now.

I'm still trying to do a Ripley. I did the lace band version, but I can't quite figure out the picking up stitches then turning it into a hat. I keep winding up with purls on the outside. It's not a hard pattern but it's frustrating the crap out of me. I just want a cute hat dang it.

So that's what's going on in my world. Lots of little progress on lots of little projects. I think it'll be awhile before I have a FO to brag about.
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3 comments:

  1. I promise you, it is possible to tink an entire row of k2togs. It sucks, but it is possible.

    You're using Malabrigo lace on this, right? It's a relatively sticky yarn, so you probably could have just ripped back without attempting a lifeline and you would have been fine. Next time just lay it flat on a nice clean surface, drink a glass of something alcoholic, and then gently pull out your stitches until you've gotten to the point where you screwed up.

    Then just run your needle through the stitches at the top, and voila! If you dropped one, then ladder it back up.

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  2. Heh, see, I would have either frogged it or gone running to Knitting Beauty all, "OMG HELP ME!" So that's awesome you got it all figured out! The Citron is going to be beautiful when you're done; it looks so nice already, just on the needles.

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  3. The malabrigo is grippy, but I just didn't trust myself to do a rip of three rows without dropping at least 50 billion stitches while trying to pick them back up again. And I really suck at laddering stitches. I'm not sure why, but it's a skill I've yet to fully grasp.

    So far I think it's ok. The further away I get from the messy row the less noticeable it is.

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