Kay's Korner - A Knitters Notes

Recently, after many months of slow and tedious knitting, I ripped out my biggest flop in 35 years. I had chosen yarn and a stitch pattern for a "thank you" scarf, intended for the landlord of Rare Purls, Mr. Doug Spohn. Using Cascade Yams Venezia Worsted, an elegant blend of merino and silk, the scarf was to be knit in linen stitch, a lovely pattern that utilizes slipped stitches every row. I also chose to cast on the full length of the accessory and knit it in long rows, figuring I would save time with far fewer turns. As Doug is 6'4", I cast on 65 inches. While the slipped stitches created a wonderful texture on both sides of the hand knit fabric, they also made the stitching progress exceedingly slow, reaping fewer inches to rows worked than stockinette. Even on a #9 US needle, the scarf was taking forever, also due to the task of the constantly moving the yarn to the front, then to the back, every single stitch ad nauseum. Add to that, I kept finding myself lapsing into seed stitch, a personal favorite stitch pattern, but certainly an eyesore when it cropped up in the field of smooth linen stitch and extra work to unknit and rework.

As I had showed Doug the progress at one point, I felt I had to stick with the project, despite that I was finding no joy in the knitting. It was a great design, but my execution was flawed in a small section, involving several rows. I didn't catch the error, about midway into the 5" wide scarf, until after the bind off. There it was, about 8 seed stitches, not really a terrible flaw, but it really bugged me. Not only that, but the scarf was very subtle, not dashing or flashy, and it certainly did not look equal to the effort it had required. During the months of stitching, I had to take breaks from this project, as it was both boring me to death and aggravating my hands. I finished several other projects during the time my linen stitch fiasco was on needles.

Soon after binding off, my disappointment in the outcome prompted me to rip out every stitch. In less than ten minutes, my husband and I unraveled the entire project and the lovely merino/silk yarn was wound into a tidy ball, saved for another day. I found a super bulky, gray marl yarn and knit Doug a very simple scarf which ended up looking so much more suitable to the occasion.

Let me introduce you to the new man in my life. Last month, Luke bought me Rocky, a wonderful black toy poodle. Isn't he adorable?!

Copyright 2011 Kay Mather