KNITSTER

I finally decided that I had to start finishing up the sweater vest for my father. I mean, his birthday was in May, I had part of it done by then, but I have been working on it off and on to the point that I was forgetting where I had left off. Not good. I also found that after a while, I had to improvise a bit (again!) because of the fact that since I was forgetting exactly where I had left off, I somehow was messing up the project if I continued to follow the directions. I think the improvisation worked. 

Last night, I did the thing I hate to do most– pick up stitches to create a collar/armband/hood/whatever. I hate picking up stitches. Quite frankly, I suck at it. The problem I had last night was that parts of my knitting has proven that I had bound off too tightly in spots, making it difficult to pick up stitches, even when using a smaller needle to try to grab the stitches. Next thing you know, the smaller needle is stuck in the stitches, the larger needle was also stuck, and I had to figure out a way to free up the needles without destroying the piece. Evidentally I did, and then I proceeded with the K1P1 rib stitch required to make the collar, needless to say, it looked terrible based on what I was able to pick up, and I messed up the pattern .(Think K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, P1, etc. You get the idea.) So tonight, I felt it was in my best interest to frog the collar, despite nearly *4* hours of work last night. My friend, Z, suggested that I use a crochet hook to better grab the stitches, then slide them over to the needle. While I could handle putting everything on the needle initially, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to do it that way, so I did.  I missed a few stitches, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I put in a baseline garter stitch with the contrasting color, and tomorrow I will start over with the K1P1 rib.

In the process, I thought of Helen, as I know she recently has been recovering from an injury that has been preventing her from knitting. Well, tonight, I was starting to think I’d need similar help, as I evidentally knit very tightly in places along this collar, and my right shoulder was quite sore. But, now that I have that baseline that is an appropriate tightness, I think it will be fine and still uniform.  I will say that my seaming skills are fine– it’s just this picking up stitches thing to make collars/hoods/etc. is what I really stink at the most. Well, with practice makes perfect. I’m sure it’ll look fine when it’s done. I figured that instead of doing the sweater collar and armbands in the main color with the contrasting stripe, I’m just doing it in the contrasting stripe color. It will still look good, and will be a little more mistake-proof, as well as easier on me!

Photos to come as soon as it’s done! It looks like this will be completed in time for….my mother’s birthday in two weeks!

Posted on July 27th, 2007 by Dani
Filed under: Projects