Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Icarus has begun!




The yarn has arrived and Icarus has begun! 100% wool hand-dyed laceweight from handpaintedyarn.com in colourway Bombon. I love all the beautiful colours - exactly what I was trying to create - hot, burnt, golden, sun, Icarus.


But see below ... this is what happens when I think the following;
I've never tried a lace shawl before, but hey - this bit of the chart is easy - I don't need a life-line... Even as I thought this I could see Lilith's expression. I tempted Karma further by thinking; Och I'm on the 2nd repeat - I can do this at the Knit n' Stitch meet up without problems - there is a rest row after all...

And then the final carefree thought that brought Karma stampeding my way; I don't need the central stitch markers, I'm not an idiot - anyone can see where the centre line is.



I discovered what I had done this morning before work. Every line of yarn overs has the following pattern: k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk except the central line of yarn overs, which [in order to make the triangle shape] is only yo, k1, yo.

I have learned that if I don't have stitch markers in the central line then I will do 2 extra decreases and lose a couple of yarn overs and ... well a bloody mess i what I have learned! I can't even begin to describe it. I know exactly what I've done though.

And if I hadn't seen it [pre-caffine] this morning before work [and before rational thought] I probably would've been OK. As it turned out I thought that I could fix this without knitting back 3 rows. I thought that I was 'cleverer' that Karma.

I have been slapped down.

At tea break I realised that going back stitch by stitch was inevitable. Resigned, I set to it.

Continued through lunch ... [and renamed the lovely laceweight 'Fusion; never-gonna-separate']

And late tea ...

Now: I get to the bit where I tried to fix the tangle of this morning's bright spark ideas. Hmm ... the tangle was such that the only way to continue was to force a ball of yarn through a hole the size of a stitch. Now how the [expletive] did I manage to do this!? I mean how! There would have been a photo but I was busy crying and growling.

Rage took over - I yanked about 20 stitches off the needle and pulled the yarn to try and release it. I thought I could 'scare' both the yarn and Karma. But [as with the students at the academic library where I work] once you show that you've lost control the battle is lost.

And the photo is where I'm at. It's not a lost cause - I'm still in the 'I can fix this' bubble. Watch this space.

4 comments:

Danielle said...

I had to put a center Row marker in there too.

Good luck on the tangle sounds yucky!

D

Twelfthknit said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
It's not that I don't feel you pain, but you had me in stitches (oops, bad pun alert) this morning and put a big smile on your face. I think I've done all those things as well - when will a frustrated knitter realise that a big bal of yarn just won't fit??
Take care
India
Who is still giggling - but I'm a bout to get on my bike, which I haven't sat on for a year, so that'll wipe the smile off my face...

Anonymous said...

oh dear.... there's only one solution. gather together the knitter's emergency frogging kit, which consists of some soothing music to listen to, patience, a good strong light to sit under, a big bar of chocolate, and a strong drink!! :) good luck xo
p.s. lifeline!!! :)

Anonymous said...

OH NO! Poor you! But on the plus side the yarn is beautiful - I love all your pics of yarn wrapped up neatly by your snazzy ball winder.
Good luck!!!
Sarah x