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Fixing Mistakes

09 October 2020

If you look closely at my progress on the High Sierra Shawl in my last post, you’ll see that the edge looks different from other samples.

I read the instructions and intended to follow them, but my fingers did what they wanted. My eyes warned me it wasn’t correct, but I was too excited by the process and couldn’t wait to knit the next section.

Before this, I’d already knit the upper triangle section twice. The first two times I hadn’t paid attention to the stitch count or which was the right/wrong side of the work (perhaps watching Vera while working on it in the evenings wasn’t my best idea).

In any case, I was happy to finally have the number of stitches the pattern called for, so I left the bind-off edge incorrect and continued.

However, this isn’t a project no one will ever see. It is a sample for LGF Suris and definitely needs to look correct.

I didn’t want to fall further behind on a project that’s being worked to deadline. What did I do?

Fixing my mistake

I carefully cut a stitch to create new ends. Then I slowly unpicked and put the stitches on a needle.

Unpicking i-cord bind-off of the Upper Triangle for the High Sierra Shawl.

It took about an hour and a half to unpick the 83 stitches and figure out how to wrangle the extras that are cast on during set-up.

Why? Depending on how I pulled the stitches it would make the next one either easy or challenging to pick up. I was also mindful of where the cats were, they love alpaca and often hover nearby when I’m working.

After I finished and all the stitches were on a new needle, I laid the entire piece out to admire. Without the wrong edge it looked better even in this state!

All stitches back on a needle before reknitting the reverse i-cord bind-off for the High Sierra Shawl.

Then I carefully reknit the edging, with both my brain and fingers following the well-written and clear instructions.

reknitting the reverse i-cord bind-off for the High Sierra Shawl.

It looks much better now! I have extra ends to weave in, but that’s a small price for not correcting my mistake when I first noticed it.

Making mistakes

I’ve heard several comments over the years, the loudest one is that because this is my work, I don’t make mistakes. I do. I make many mistakes. Often. Repeatedly.

What makes what I do different is that I’ve learned not to panic (most of the time) and how to correct issues when they happen.

It didn’t happen overnight. Over many years and countless projects, I learned to read my knitting and fix the mistakes. Learning when I could drop stitches to fix a mistake, when it was better to rip out a section, or to cut a stitch took time.

Learning to fix mistakes

If you want to intentionally practice fixing mistakes, perhaps you can guess what I’ll suggest. It’s my favorite thing to do — create swatches and incorporate the issue you want to learn to fix. Perhaps it’s a tight cast-on row a better buttonhole, or even weaving in ends. Swatch!

Do you want to make something useful and a library of swatches doesn’t excite you? Sew them into a blanket or create washcloths!

I hope this post shows you that it’s ok to make mistakes!

Additional Resources

Here are a few curated links about reading knitting and fixing mistakes. I prefer still images and text over videos.

  • Be a Better Knitter: How to Read Your Knitting
  • Everything You Need to Read Your Knitting
  • All is not lost
  • Repairing and Reknitting a Lace Knit Blanket
  • Lace Surgery (also Part Deux)

Books

See also, reference books – knit and crochet

  • Vogue Knitting Ultimate Knitting Book (either the original edition or the Completely Revised and Updated Volume)
  • The Reader’s Digest Knitting Handbook
  • Knit Fix by Lisa Kartus

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