If I were reading Cast Off by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee instead of listening to it, I might actually quote her word for word but it's one of those audiobooks so I'll have to paraphrase. You know the part where she talks about the two kinds of knitters? The ones that would painstakingly search for the mistake if she got to the end of a row and had an extra stitch and the others who would just knit two together? Well, I'm kind of a combination of the two. In that instance I would probably just knit two together because, most likely (in my mind anyway), it wouldn't be noticeable. If, after a few rows, it did become noticeable, though, I would be forced to rip it out - cursing myself with every stitch for not fixing it right away - because I would see it every time I looked at it and it would drive me crazy.
That said, I'm really struggling with a mistake I made last night. I was working on my Gooseberry Cardigan and using these evil things to mark my increase stitches.
I don't know what made me use them - they must have been handy when I cast on - because I usually only use them for crochet projects. I hate that they get snagged in the knitting and some times trick you into thinking they belong one place when they really belong in another. That's exactly what happened to me last night. This little circle of doom got a little unruly so I pried it out and put it back, 99% sure, where it belonged. I even made note to double check when I completed the next row which I totally did and things looked fine. Several rows later, though, I realized I should have relied on that 1% of nagging doubt because the stitch maker was off by one stitch.
My Photoshop skillz are limited (but I'm learning!) and Matt is at work so I'm on my own but the errant stitches are kind of from one tip of the arrow to the other. Note I'm now using snag-free stitch markers.
After agonizing over it for several minutes - looking up and down the needle at the multitude of stitches I would have to take out and wondering if I would end up loosing my increase row if I just took if off the needle to rip back four rows or if I would have to unknit each individual stitch - I decided to try just moving it back over where it should be. After the first couple of rows I found that it was nearly imperceptible but, after a couple more, it became a little more obvious and it started to really bother me.
I almost pulled if off the needle, crossing my fingers that I wouldn't loose the increases, but it was nearly one a.m. and both Matt and I decided it was better to sleep on it and make a decision in the morning. I also took a good look at the pictures of the finished sweater because I'm only a couple of inches into the yoke (it's top down) and, after you finish the body, you pick up stitches and knit the collar...which hangs down over the yoke by several inches (photo courtesy of Interweave Knits).
See what I'm getting at? The collar is, most likely, going to cover up my mistake.
That said, I'm trying to convince myself to carry on. After I few more inches I'll be far enough beyond the mistake that I won't be forced to view it/torture myself with each and every row. Unfortunately, though, I can't be completely convinced and am going to let it rest for a day while I consider it/torture myself a little longer.
What would you do?
