Sun 14 Feb 2010
This week, two projects have needed minor surgery.
I knit a lot on the shawl last weekend, and was making good progress. Just as I put it down on Sunday night, though, I noticed this:
Do you see that? In the diamond column? Two pairs of little diamonds that got joined at the point (in both columns). I wasn’t going to rip all the way back for those, but I also wasn’t going to leave them there. So, that became this:
And then was carefully worked back up to the needles. The patient healed well, and is showing no permanent scarring. In fact, she’s even progressing rather nicely after her surgery.
The second patient was a slightly more subtle case. I finished the second sock that’s been my bus knitting lately:
As you can see, the second sock is a little bit shorter than the first. Careful counting verified that all of my stitch counts were correct, but that I had somehow increased once every 2 rows for the second sock and once every 3 rows for the first while making the arch expansion (this is the disadvantage of bus knitting…much easier to miss important instructions in my notes!). The second sock still fits, but it’s a bit tight at the toes and just doesn’t fit as well in the arch area.
I didn’t really want to pull the whole thing back and re-knit it, but I also want a sock that I will wear. So, I took this opportunity to practice a technique that I have seen but have never tried myself. First, I cut one tiny little stitch.
Then, I began to unpick the row that it belongs to:
This gave me two halves of a sock; the heel and cuff, and the toe-arch section.
I pulled back the offending increases, and picked up the stitches to rework them.
And now I have bus knitting for tomorrow.
I’m happy to report that both surgeries went well, and the patients are well on their way to a speedy recovery. I’ll keep you updated on their convalescence.
I wish the patients well in their healing.
I’ve had to do similar ‘fixes’ on lace before – when there are 100’s of stitches on the needle you don’t rip back. I’ve never tried anything like with the sock, but it is a technique I’ve kept in the back of my mind *just in case.*
you are brave. I would have ripped back the sock. I don’t know if I would have the courage to cut and mend it.
Ooh, that was brave knitting! Well done, especially with the lace — dropping down that way with lace always feels a bit riskier to me than doing it in something simpler. I’m glad to hear that all is well 🙂
Nicely done, on both counts! Isn’t it satisfying to do that? Of course, I usually get pretty close to despair once or twice during lace repairs, but find a deep breath and refocusing usually gets me there.