This has happened before, and you would think that I would have gotten the message, but nope–I had to go through it again! Put simply, if you start a knitting project and walk away from it for weeks or months at a time, you will (A) have forgotten how to do it, or (B) changed gauge so drastically that you have to rip it all out.
(A) happened on the raspberry lace scarf I was knitting for a friend. Usually I can memorize a lace pattern pretty quickly if it’s not a million-row repeat, but this pattern, although not difficult, has forced me to keep the book on my lap and mark off each row as I go. I had gotten into a groove when I started knitting the scarf, but when I picked it up again a few days ago (after at least six months of neglect,) I had totally lost track of what was going on. I thought I got it sorted out and started knitting away. After two days of work, I discovered that I had NOT gotten it sorted out and had made a huge, obvious error right where I picked it up. So everything I had done had to be undone. Not only was it frustrating to have lost so much work, but it was a pain in the neck to rip back the mohair yarn. Grrr…
B happened last night when I stopped knitting the second sock of my blue Panda Wool pair and really LOOKED at it. I had waited too long between finishing the first sock and starting the second, and for some crazy reason the second one was knit waaaaay more tightly. The darn thing was a full half-inch narrower than the first, and the difference in gauge was quite noticeable. So there went seven inches of sock–RRRRRIP! Back to the beginning we went, my poor little sock and I. I’ve gotten at least four inches done again, so the pain is starting to fade. But alas, when I pulled it out of its little pink tote this evening, I found that somewhere along the way today I had broken the size 0 circular I was using. Just a slight setback; I had to mentally adjust from working the Magic Loop to using DPNs again, but I’m back up to speed. At least I feel justified for having bought all those Harmony needles from Knit Picks, because I had the right size DPNs!
But this gives me a qualm when I look in the unfinished project basket. What will I find when I start working on the shrug that I put aside half-done more than a year ago? I do remember that I had to use a row counter to keep track of that pattern. I shudder to contemplate what awaits me.
The moral of the story is…oh, heck, you KNOW what the moral is! Maybe now I’ll remember it!
