Since posting 6 days ago I have dedicated...
22 tediously focused but error ridden hours
on Tangled Yoke. I had originally hoped to have it ready as an FO by last Friday, which would have been the 1 year anniversary of casting on for the the thing. It didn't happen Friday and it won't happen today either.
As I worked away on it I did use the many helpful suggestions you kind knitters left in the comments of that post...
- As Barb suggested, I did write the pattern out - very, very helpful! Thank you Barb!
- I checked for errata as Lorraine recommended. I appreciate the reminder on this - its such a basic thing but one which I so often forget. There were none. (Does Eunny ever have errata in her patterns?)
- I sure did hang in there as so many of you kindly encouraged me to do.
- Likewise I focused on just how really close to being finished I was.
- I wondered whether Shari in Nova Scotia had dug her Tangled Yoke out from "hibernation" and was perhaps having no troubles at all.
- I particularly focused, as Lyn suggested, on just how lovely it is to work with all that Rowan Felted Tweed which despite excessive handling, has shown no wear or tear.
All that taken into consideration though...in those 22 hours of knitting time I knit, ripped, re-knit, re-ripped, did all that again once more before finally, correctly, getting past row 7 of the chart. Thus, in all that time I only worked with a grand total of...
31 meters of yarn
(an average of successfully knitting 27 linear inches of yarn per hour!!!)
I should hang my head in knitting shame before you. I do shake my head with personal exasperation. Nonetheless I do hold my head high because, through
PURE BRUTE FORCE OF WILL
'though I'm not done yet I have endured the insanely stupid mistakes and kept on going.
You're knitters - think of the most basic of knitting mistakes and whatever you come up with - I did it at least once. Some I even did more than once!
.......................Anywaaaaayyyyyyy........................
Now I believe I've broken the back of the thing for I'm past halfway through the chart; currently decreasing in row 11 to take the stitch count from the low 400's to around 320. (See the fab pink and green stitch markers I won from Cheryl over at Acorn to Oak! Using them on this phase of the project was a very nice treat amidst all the other issues!)
February has arrived. The Vancouver Olympics and Olympic knitting loom ever larger. I've got to keep at it...'got to keep at it...'got to keep at it.........that's all I can do - that's all it will take!
In the meantime, I've other knitterly things a-goin' on! I'll post about those in coming days as I work on TY in coming evenings. (If there's good news, maybe I'll add the odd line about TY progress as well.)
Thanks for dropping by today and for all the wonderfully supportive and really helpful comments last week that kept me going - I'm going to keep drawing on those - I'm going to need them but I'm going to get the thing finished!
7 comments:
I really can't help but wonder if the world "tangled" in the name of this pattern is there for a reason...the difficult, tangled mess of trying to make it. I feel for you. But, know that I'm cheering for you the whole way and can't wait to share in your joy when you complete it. I'm glad you're enjoying your stitch markers. :-)
Now I feel guilty as I haven't picked it up yet, but tonight is the night! I promise! As soon as I get the munchkins to bed, TY and I have a date:)
It IS beautiful and the yarn...ah, the yarn!
Yahooo!!! You made it! Okay, I have to say: I find it courageous and not at all shameful that you spent all that time to make sure you got it RIGHT. Sometimes I just abandon a project permanently because I don't want to deal with something, and I really like hearing when people face a problem and overcome it.
Hooray! You've gotten past the problem section! I think all of us who tackle these kinds of beautiful, complicated patterns run into these kinds of problems, so NO SHAME IS INVOLVED! For me, it was Kathy Zimmerman's "Future-Forward Aran," from Knitter's in (I think) 2000. I'd made several Aran sweaters before, but that one had the diamonds staggered vertically, and I ended up having to toss almost half a skein of yarn, because it did not stand up to ripping. Needless to say, that's when I learned to write things out :) BTW, I'm BarbS0201 on Rav.
Oh my, am I ever feeling your pain! I did dig TY out of hibernation and am in the process of tinking back to the set up row. I have 2.5 rows left to go and then I'll have a clean slate to start over. I'm determnined to get it this time and my reward will be some new yarn for a new sweater! something simple and drapey I think:)
You're a better person than I am, that's for sure.
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