Third time's the charm

In yet another illustration of why I wasn’t a math major in college, I’ve redesigned my Branching Out redesign for the second time in three weeks. Here it was before I ripped:



This scarf has been giving me problems. My original problems were just memory- and skill-related: I kept forgetting yarn-overs, and I didn’t realize that “sl 2, k1, psso” meant that the first two stiches should be slipped together (so the middle one is “on top”) instead of sl1, sl1. My middle line was very knobby, and it wasn’t until I was four inches in that I discovered the error. (See left, below.) I tried to take command of my knitting and rip back selectively with a crochet hook a la Elizabeth Zimmerman, but gave up after three rows – yarn overs are too complicated, I couldn’t keep track. Cowed, I left the jig in and decided to think it was quaint, but then I realized that my third set of leaves wasn’t quite looking right. I didn’t have yarn-overs all the way around the leaf, the bottom had two points instead of one, and it was higher than the diagonal formed by the others so I lost my pretty diagonal line. (See below right, from the yellow diagonal and down.) I’d been so busy trying to follow my pattern that I hadn’t stopped to consider whether it was correct. So, on the trip home to Sharon’s graduation, I packed graph paper for my carry-on and worked away at a fix. I arrived at something different, but after a few rows clearly still not right. (see above the yellow diagonal.)


Sooo, down I sat again, and I’m delighted to say that my brain is apparently finally catching on to lace! I started over completely this time, and it’s looking quite pretty. I wish that I could say I had an ETA, since I’m not ripping back every row anymore (and consequently have gotten faster), but with only two inches done, no guarantee. :-) Hurray for progress and sticktoitiveness, nonetheless!