To the frog pond!

The big mistake! The increases are all screwed up here

Let me start this story by explaining that typically, I am not much of a “Type A” knitter, especially if it’s something I’m knitting for myself.  If there’s a mistake, I’ll think of ways to correct it as I go along, or see if it can be ignored.  I embrace the wabi-sabi, let go of ego, accept that the screwy details are rarely noticeable when the whole is good, etc.

There is a very old “meme” if you will, one that predates the intertubes – it’s about humility.  I had heard that it was from quiltmakers, but googling implies that it’s just a story fondly embraced by crafters the world over.  The story goes that great quiltmakers (or Persian rugmakers, or Native American beadworkers, etc) would intentionally introduce one flaw into their nearly perfect work as a sign of humility because only God’s (or gods’, or Great Spirit’s, etc) work could be perfect.  I have always joked that I never need to worry about spiting the gods with my excessive perfection, because my work is full of mistakes, but if the gods are equally concerned over excessive mistakes, I might be in trouble.

This time, however, the mistake demanded instant frogging.  This one was too big to finagle my way through with stitch witchery.  So what did I screw up?

I’ll do a full review of my first Craftsy class experience later, after I’ve completed more of the class, but here’s a quick sum up of the Crazy Lace Cardigan class I have started taking:  Great class, terrific hand-outs, engaging teacher, but having some issues with their mobile site.  On the mobile site, you can’t (currently) fast-forward, skip ahead, or otherwise navigate through the different “lessons” in a single video.  The class as a whole is divided into 14 videos, but some of them are over an hour.  My lunch break is only 1hr, and that includes procuring and eating food.  I want to do Craftsy class on my lunch break.  This has all conspired to make me impatient with the classes on occasion.

Its not that the classes are poorly paced either, it’s just that the class is meant to teach a broad range of experience levels, and sometimes they go on for a few minutes about stuff I already know, and on my tablet I can’t skip ahead.  But you know what is awesome?  When I sent tech support a message to let them know I’d like to see them improve that aspect, they told me they already had mobile apps in the works and ready to release in a few weeks!  So hooray for Craftsy!  I can’t wait to see if this new app addresses my issues!

So that brings me to my problem with the knitting.  I was heading to a fun craft night with one good friend and a bunch of gals I hadn’t yet met, and I was debating what project to bring.  I wanted something that would really keep my attention, in case I was out of the social loop, but nothing that would look too rarefied because I didn’t want to weird anybody out on the first meeting.  So to prepare, I skipped ahead a little on the Craftsy class.  That’s where the Big Mistake came in.

I reviewed the cast-on, and then grabbed the pattern and did a quick scan to see if there were any techniques I needed to know.  Rather than watch that section of the video, I just grabbed a good stitch reference book and headed out the door.  It looked pretty good, and I was cruising along feeling that this was a very pleasant pattern and that I would be done with the top yoke part in no time.

Today at lunch, I noticed a couple of small mistakes.  A missed increase, and an extra yarn-over.  But maybe it would all come out in the wash, so I counted some stitches… that’s when i noticed that the increase sections on the two front points of the v-neck didn’t look symmetrical.  Uh-oh!  I started catching up with the Craftsy video… there it is, there are supposed to be double yarn-overs at every marker.  If you look at the image above, you will note that there are only single yarn-overs.

But here’s the kicker… the pattern is not wrong.  The video would have helped me not make the mistake by carefully reinforcing what the pattern says, but the pattern is written correctly.  This is what I get for ambitiously trying to jump ahead, not reviewing the pattern and stitches carefully, starting a new pattern stitch in a busy social environment, and in general NOT paying enough attention!

So here’s the moral of this story, even though it’s common sense and I really, really ought to know this by now:  read all pattern instructions carefully and really pay attention to the instructions while you are setting up a knit.  And let’s hope that the knitting gods aren’t inclined to smite cocky, hasty underachievers any more than they seem to be inclined to smite those unhumble perfectionists.

Until next time, keep those needles clicking…