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Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Disaster Averted

Last night I decided that the 6 repeats I had done would make my scarf the perfect size once blocked. I began the I-cord cast off and all was going well. I had most of the stitches on the left, long circular needle and I was doing the 3 stitches of the cast off with a double point needle. That left the tail of the circular needle dangling. *Cue ominous, horror music.*

As I was knitting I came to the end of the working yarn and needed to pull more off the cone. I lifted my arms and knitting to pull the yarn from the cone and IT happened. Aack.

I had somehow gotten the end of the circular tucked under my butt. When I lifted up on the knitting the circular needle pulled out of about a third of the stitches! You could have heard my gasp all the way to Vancouver I think. While evaluating the gravity of this situation, keep in mind that I am working with BLACK, laceweight, BOUCLE that is as unforgiving as can be. After a moment to let the dizziness pass I grabbed all the stitches that I could see, knowing full well that I was missing many, if not most, of the yarn overs. Thankfully this is a pattern where most of the yarn overs only ladder down one row. As I did the cast off I picked up yarn overs where ever it looked like they should be.

As far as I could tell at that point, it was okay. The nature of this black boucle is such that mistakes are hard to see. That could be a good thing, but I was concerned that I could have missed a stitch or two and would only find out about it when the severe blocking was done.

Turns out my fears were warranted. Under the pressure of the blocking two different sections let go, both involving double decreases. Here for you viewing horror is one of them.


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I found some black sewing thread and did the best I could, first catching the stitches and then pulling and prodding them into a semblance of what they should have been. The repair is visible, but not horribly so. In the picture below the repair is along the top edge between the 16 and 17 inch marks on the tape measure.

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The good news is that it lies in the section that drapes the back of the neck and it can't be seen in the folds of the scarf while it is being worn.

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I like the way the green beads twinkle in and out of view like stars in a night sky.

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15 comments:

vanessa said...

ack,i feel your pain! it is lovely :-)

Landstown Poultry said...

Oh, my word. I gasped in horror when I read that. Bless your heart. You did an absolutely lovely job. The green and the black work wonderfully together and the fix is absolutely hidden when worn! Just consider it your "spirit bead". :-D

Hockey Mom said...

That's horrible, but you did good with the fix.

The scarf is lovely. I've yet to start mine, I'm trying to get a couple of other projects out of the way so I can devote my attention to it.

CatonsvilleCats said...

It looks really nice in spite of your disaster, and the beads are perfect.

lil said...

It's beautiful with the green beads. Inspiring.

Kat said...

WOW, your scarf is gorgeous!! I'm so glad you were able to fix the stiches-falling-off-the-needle disaster, and I predict that everyone will be so awe-struck by the beauty of the scarf and beads that they'll never notice. :-)

aija said...

Your scarf is beautiful!! The boucle is great too, I think more people should consider it seeing your finished scarf... just lovely.

Anonymous said...

I read about your near disaster on the Yahoo group. You did a great fixing it! No one will ever know. I also commend you on using boucle for the project. I've always steered away from it for fear of having trouble knitting with it, even though I love the texture it gives.

Edna said...

You did a wonderful job on this. I love the way the beads look also. Congratulations!

Rabbitch said...

Eek! Don't make me get all worked up in my delicate condition! No, not that delicate condition, the other one. *g*

Looks like you did a beautiful fix job there.

Maggie Ann said...

Thats a shame you had trouble, but to see the finished product...you'd never know..its a beautiful scarf.. a work of art.

Suzann said...

Your scarf is beautiful. The beads really accent the pattern and add that bit of sparkle.
I am so glad you were able to recover from your near disaster.

Emily said...

Wow! You really pulled it together. The scarf is just gorgeous. Great job.

JoeyJoJo said...

Congratulations Marlene. It looks absolutely gorgeous and you can't notice the slip at all. Well saved.

Anonymous said...

Oh, dear. Warn a body when you're going to scare them like that =)

It looks fantastic though!