Thursday, April 06, 2006

The little things

Last night I fixed my first cable. I know there are many, many of you out there to which this is second nature. But, to me this was a huge step. I had miscrossed two stitches in Starsky last night and had made it to the next repeat before I realized it. I had already decided I wasn’t going to tink half the row to fix it and I am really glad I didn’t. It was after reaching the third repeat that the mistake started to irritate me. It was also about that time that I realized I could fix it when I got back to that spot on the next row. In my head I was thinking all I had to do was switch the order of the two stitches. But, when I got to the right spot, I realized the mistake in my reasoning as well. I had already knitted through the twisted stitches. In order to fix it I would have to drop two stitches, switch the stitches from front to back and then re-knit.

The complicated (well, at least to me) part was that one of the stitches was destined to be a knit stitch and one was destined to be a purl. So, I had to make sure when I picked the stitches back up through the old loops, that I made a purl where the purl would go and a knit where the knit would go. And to toot my own horn, it came off without a hitch. I was so surprised I actually said out loud to the dust bunnies – huh, look at that!

This made me feel really good about my progress as a knitter, especially since I had been plagued with doubt lately. I had to tell myself earlier in the week, that with time I will become a good knitter - that I need to be patient and not get discouraged. It turned out that fixing a cable was exactly the reinforcement I needed. I now feel that I am progressing and that by just sticking with it, I will be good one day. I too will be able to make a sweater that I will be 100% happy with once I’m done. A sweater that I will throw on at a moments notice like I do with my store bought sweaters and not require a lot of fashion planning to wear. These are my aspirations and I now feel that I will get there…one day.

8 comments:

Jeanette said...

Good job fixing the cable! It is always fun to figure out how to fix something you didn't know you could without tearing out the whole thing.

Chris said...

Congrats! That is a HUGE step!!

Mouse said...

I agree with the others.. good job! I felt like a genius when I turned my first sock heel too.. its one of those "Ah-HAH!" moments.

Dave said...

It's a great feeling --
"I can do that!" Congratulations.

Julia (MindofWinter) said...

You're on your way - no question about it! It takes a little longer these days - there are so many resources that you often don't have to figure things out alone. Good for you for using your smarts!

knitzalot said...

You mean we're supposed to be happy with the things we make? I thought we were supposed to obsess about every little mistake and criticize our technique. Hmm, I'll have to work on that.

Anonymous said...

yeah! good job. When i learned how to cable, my lys favorite lady taught me how to drop down, fix, and reknit up and I did it just fine. I've yet to use the skill and I hope if i do (when I do) it works as well as it did for you.

can't wait to see your finished sweater!

Nasus said...

Wow...if you think you're not a good knitter, that makes me...[shudder]