June 28, 2004

Ribbit. Ribbit.

So I thought I was going to have a photo of something approximating the majority of a sleeve-cap and, indeed, of a capped sleeve. But then I was looking at the sleeve, and at the schematic, and thinking of my memory of how a capped sleeve is supposed to look. And I glanced back at the instructions, even though I know I read them eight times before I started the decreases. And as if it were in magic Hogwartian ink, I suddenly noticed, right there in between two other instructions, the words "then on foll alt 3 rows..." and realized I hadn't done that. And I was 23 rows beyond where that instruction came.

And let me tell you, I hate to frog. It's not so much that I mind ripping. It's that I have a strong, strong, strong aversion to having to pick the stitches back up out of wherever they are and get them back on the needle facing the right direction. I have large fingers, and even though they're fleet fingers when it comes to getting the yarn to go in the right place while it's on the needles, they're not swift little tiny fingers that are good at pushing misbehaving yarn back into the right place. I did pretty good, though: out of 71 stitches, I only dropped one through the loop, and I got something close to where that stitch is and I know it'll be salvageable once I work to that part of the row, and if I can find a crochet hook. I just couldn't find one when I was trying to pick the stitches back up onto the needle. The best news? I have the exact number of stitches I am supposed to have. I know what row I'm on and I'm in the right place. Still have to re-knit 23 rows, and it means that my blog is once again non-photo-worthy, but then I didn't remember to charge the batteries in the digital camera anyhow. But for any of you who heard that loud RIBBIT.... RIBBIT... coming from the east side of Manhattan at about 5:02 this morning, well, now you know what it was.

Posted by Jon at June 28, 2004 05:34 AM
Comments

Jon, you need to take a look at this article over at Knitty.com

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/FEATwin03TT.html

She has a trick for doing it so you don't have to try to shove all the little loops back on the needles. It makes it SO much better. I still hate frogging, but it's now something I can DO with reasonable confidence. It used to be I could tink, or I could frog the whole thing and start over, and anything else was really iffy. Great article.

Posted by: Laura Gallagher at June 28, 2004 09:58 AM

I *did* hear something croaking around 2:00 a.m. PDT. And since we don't have frogs in my neighborhood, it must have been you. So sorry. But once you've done it and finished the item it'll be a blur on the horizon, right?

Posted by: Sheila at June 28, 2004 12:23 PM

I thought I heard some croaking this morning, but just chalked it up to being tired. :) Hope it wasn't too bad.

Posted by: Karen at June 28, 2004 01:04 PM

Jon--I highly recommend the URL that Laura posted. You're much more likely to keep all your stitches if you pick them up before ripping. I've also threaded crochet cotten or dental floss through stitches before ripping out more complicated patterns.

Posted by: JK at June 28, 2004 01:26 PM

Also, if you look closely at instructions for twisted and plaited stitches, you can learn what a stitch should look like on the needle, and correct them as you go. That's what I do, anyway -- just shove the stitches on the needle as they come, not caring whether they are twisted or not, then straighten them when I knit the first row.

Posted by: Rana at June 28, 2004 07:50 PM

that's EXACTLY why I hate frogging, only I'd never thought it all the way out. I'm going to go read that knitty article now...

Posted by: Rachael at June 28, 2004 08:34 PM

Yes, Rana is right....after ripping just get the stitches on the needle, you're home free without worry of a stitch coming 'unknit' and then turn the twisted stiches as you knit them. It also helps greatly to use a very small needle size for the picking up step.

Posted by: Greg at June 29, 2004 09:55 AM