...what happened last night.
I'd spent most of the day with knitting and spinning friends. I was rocking along on my Shetland Tea Shawl (as much as you can rock along on 574 sts/round on the fiddly part of the pattern.) Last night was our Tuesday SnB group, and I was knitting along fine there too. (Note: finding a lace pattern you can knit when there are other people around: Priceless.)
Then, just before the meeting was over, I dropped a stitch. In the middle of a section of double yo's and decreases. And it ran down a couple of rows before I could catch it.
Ruh-roh.
I didn't panic. I secured the stitch and put my knitting away till I got home.
Once I got home, I decided I'd try to fix just that section, instead of tinking back 3 or 4 rounds, which had been my usual way of dealing with problems like these in the past. (The fact that my rounds have 574 sts contributed mightily to this decision.) So I isolated the section with the problem, redrew the chart to focus on the problem section (the problem section went from the end of the chart to the beginning, and I am not good at putting stuff like that together in my head), and...
stitch by stitch, I dropped the whole 14 stitch section down about 4 rows.
I'd never tried to do this before.* But I knew it could be done. Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer writes about repairing a Shetland lace disaster. And her problem was about a zillion times more dramatic than my easy lace problem. (Let me say right now how totally in awe I am of someone who can do something like this.) Kim had also had to fix a problem on her Alcazar shawl.) So with Kim and Jackie as inspiration, I tried fixing it.
And it worked.
It WORKED!!!
I used a couple of bamboo dpns and I sat with my knitting right under the lamp. I have to say I wasn't loving the dark yarn when I was doing this, though. Undoing the decreases in this slippery tencel is not for the faint of heart, especially when you can barely see them!
I feel like I've completed some kind of rite of passage or something. Of course, it's a fairly uncomplicated pattern, and it has lace every row (no every-other-row knit). To me, it's easier to find and fix problems when something's happening every row. Counter-intuitive, I know, but hey, works for me! But I'm ridiculously proud that I did this.
Now I just have to remember the immortal words of Han Solo to Luke Skywalker:
"Great, kid! Don't get cocky."
*No, I tell a lie. I HAD tried to do it, and FAILED miserably. But I reasoned I could always tink back 3 rows if I had to. I wouldn't be any worse off than now, and if this worked, I would have saved myself a couple hours work.
YAY!! See, you are the Lace Queen.
Posted by: Jane | June 22, 2005 at 09:56 PM
And no photos to document the surgery? Not even before/after shots? I wouldn't have even tried - you know, put it in the closet and hope the knitting fairies fix it for you... LOL
Posted by: Beth | June 22, 2005 at 10:55 PM
I'm glad it worked--I've only had that euphoria with a dropped stitch on a sock(which I'm sure is MUCH easier to fix than one in lace)but I couldn't believe I fixed it. It is a rite of passage I think--when you can fix it without ripping out--I think another is when you can identify and fix someone else's mistake(I don't think I'm to that point yet) Happy knitting!
Posted by: Kim | June 22, 2005 at 11:08 PM
You are far braver than I! Congrats on your repair and I love the way your shawl is coming out.
Posted by: Sheree | June 22, 2005 at 11:42 PM
Whoa! You did that and didn't let on? What cool, what calm, I would have been cursing all the way home!
Good job, you are my inspiration, I feel lace calling me (and yet, I turn away). VBG
Posted by: Sandy | June 23, 2005 at 10:45 AM
Wow! You have been added to my knitting hero pantheon! That, my lady, is some gutsy knitting!
I bow in your geographic direction!
Posted by: Anita | June 23, 2005 at 11:53 AM
Woot! That was a MAJOR coup.
Posted by: Bliss | June 23, 2005 at 06:56 PM
Good going! If you can fix lace without ripping back whole rows YOU are now the boss of your knitting. You are in control. The stitches quiver in terror at your approach. Go forth and conquer! -K. [wink]
Posted by: kbsalazar | June 25, 2005 at 12:29 PM
yikes! I never would have been able to make that work. Great job!
Posted by: carrie | June 25, 2005 at 12:59 PM
Just the words tencel and lace strike fear into my heart. I'm very very immpressed with your fixing job. Even without pictures. ;-)
Posted by: Cassie | June 25, 2005 at 03:07 PM
Whoa, Janice, that was some repair work. My hat is off to you! I've dropped five or six stitches before to repair a single dropped stitch in lace, but I've never been brave enough to drop a whole repeat. That really is a rite of passage. You have arrived at a new plateau!
Posted by: Glynda B. | June 28, 2005 at 06:33 PM