Thursday, April 17, 2008

Just Drop It!

The dreaded dropped stitch. In some patterns, dropping a stitch is enough to make any knitter cower in the corner in tears....OK, in any pattern that I'm knitting, I cry like a baby over those dropped stitches. I'll be honest, I'm not great at fixing my mistakes, like dropped stitches (I wonder if this has anything to do with being a perfectionist....maybe that's another post). I just can't quite seem to fix things very well. Sometimes I manage, but to be honest, if I end up fixing the mistake, it's usually by sheer dumb luck. No actual skill involved. Not on my part, no siree. I'm still an infant in this part of knitting.
So you can imagine my chagrin when I'm cruising along finishing the last of the increase rows on my clapotis (not many days left until Maryland Sheep and Wool, and I'm starting to feel the pressure), and realize that row 8 of the straight rows requires me, the scared, paranoid, perfectionist little knitter, to drop a stitch ON PURPOSE! Is Kate Gilbert crazy? Just an FYI, Kate Gilbert wrote the pattern for the clapotis. Ok.....it was so gut-wrenching for me, this thought of dropping stitches, that I saved this portion until tonight. Considering that I have the on-call beeper tonight, maybe not the smartest move. I'm a bit jumpy yet with the beeper. A lot of responsibility. So, I decided to head into the knitting when the house was empty, and I had already received one beep.

Here you see the clapotis, all pretty and such (if I do say so myself), and it's just waiting for the dropped stitch row. I visit Ravelry, the life vest that has saved my sanity many times. There is a Clapotis group there, and there is a discussion thread about dropping stitches, and there are step-by-step instructions for those like me. Amazing! Yeah Ravelry!
So, I gather as much courage as I can.....look, even the beeper is gathering courage and resting on the beautiful Wollmeise!

And I sucked it up, and did what the pattern said. I dropped the stitch, on purpose. And let me tell you, it was enlightening. Then, the dropped stitch has to drop to the bottom of that particular row.....I used my DPN to unravel those pesky little stitches that wouldn't unravel right away. Why, when I drop stitches by accident, do they seem to drop down rows much quicker? I don't know if there's an answer to this question that could satisfy even my infantile knitting mind. But anyway, I feel loads lighter....having dropped the stitch, and I'm off to knit some more. Hopefully this weekend, I can put a major dent in this project. But the weather, oh, it's been so beautiful. It's hard not to be outside! Maybe some porch knitting? Where's your favorite place to knit while enjoying the great outdoors?

4 comments:

Kay said...

Kris,
I love my front porch for stitching. I loved it even more when the high school was across the street and I could sit on my front porch and watch a ball game while stitching away. I hope you have a good space outside for knitting because tomorrow is going to be perfect for it!

Unknown said...

Porch knitting sounds great! I wish we had a porch! The Clapotis looks great.

peaknits said...

I love the clapotis - I'm thinking of casting one on using Wollmeise Miss May...what a great project. Favorite place for summer knitting?? The deck on a lawn chair is nice - or at a park while the girls are playing in the sand. Or, I keep thinking I'll get a membership to Olbrich Gardens - this great place not far from my house - it's like "peace in the park" times 10:) I have my bench all picked out! I'll be that crazy knitting lady on the bench. oy!:)

Morticcia said...

I love knitting out-of-doors. I have a swinging chair overlooking the woods.

I second the freakazoid nature of the universe where purposely dropped stitches don't untangle like those stitches we hope remain together. It's like the phenomenon that cold coffee is so much colder than warm soda.