I am so excited that I finished another project that would be classified as a beginner project. I don't care what the book called it, I am just tickled with myself that it's done, done, done!!
Now I have a question for all of you advanced knitters. Is there such a thing as "project let down" or "finished project depression"? I was lucky enough to have another project lined right away to ease the pain of finishing the shawl. But what if when the sweater class is over, I have nothing else lined up? Is this why knitters have some many projects all going at once? Is it boredom or mental self preservation?
Moving on...
The second sweater class went on without any of us as far as I know. I told the teacher when she called to check on my progress that it seemed a bit silly to me for us to spend two hours watching me do the stockinette stitch. Boring, boring and some more boring. So since I was the only one who was going to be able to go last night, I told her to take the night off. I would be in class on the 18th and then go from there.
I had a lot done on the body of the sweater until I found three dropped stitches here, there and yonder. 
I went back and picked them up. Funny thing was, the more I tried to follow a book's instructions on how to pick up a dropped stitch the worse it got. It was like trying to stop a run in my panty hose. It was frustrating to say the least. I sat back in the chair and looked at how small the recovered stitches were and wanted to break down and cry. You could really see the difference. So guess what...you got it. I ripped that bad boy all the way out and cast on new stitches. I tried to rip it out and put the ribbing stitches back on the needles but to no avail. So I had to start all over. I have now done that whole process twice. Is knitting supposed to make you cry and act snotty to your family members when they try and talk to you while you are in the throws of a knitting trantrum? Did someone tell me this was fun?
10 comments:
The shawl is absolutely beautiful!
The hardest thing about learning to knit is figuring out how to fix your mistakes. I'm just now getting a handle on it myself.
Your shawl is beautiful. I love the color, and proportion of cable to non-cable areas. I can't seem to find, in previous posts, your vital info for the shawl : yarn? needles? pattern?
Letdown? I'm such a slow knitter, there's always more projects waiting, either in my head, in the swatch stage, or on the needles.
Christine-really I am a beginner! I took my very first lesson the weekend of Thanksgiving last year. This is the fourth thing I have completed which includes the package of squares for Jef and Vicki's brother.
Wool Winder-I totally agree about the mistakes. I am having a devil of a time trying to figure out what a slipped stitch looks like and how far down it will slip if I am not quick enough with the crochet hook. Does anyone take classes on how to fix screw ups?
Leslie-here is the link to the post with the book and yarn info. I used a size 8 Addi Turbo to do the shawl. I just love those things. Green is my most favorite color and since it was going to be for me, I picked something I would like to look at for many years or let's hope so. I think a lighter color would do the cables more justice but I still had a great time making it. I learned that I like doing cables! Glad to know that I am not the only slow one out there in knitting land and that there is such a thing as project let down. I guess you just have to keep a new project one step ahead of the soon to be finished project! I am gettin' there!
http://thevirginiapurl.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_thevirginiapurl_archive.html
It will click one day! Just give it time, one day in the future you will drop stitches with ease when you see problems, and pick them up without breaking a sweet!
Great job on the shawl! I don't get project letdown, I get project anxiety--what am I going to do next!! The whole fixing boo-boos thing gets easier when you understand how the whole creating the stitch works, which to my mind is weaving one loop through another, don't worry, like pixiepurls said, it will just click one day.
The fixing mistakes thing had better hurry up and click because I am ready to throw down the sweater and run screaming from the room!! I am so frustrated, that I am going outside to dig up daffadils to keep from knitting. I can hear that sweater calling me, frog, frog, frog....ugh.
I've recently learned a trick for ripping. Find your last good row and weave your needles into the stitches. Then, rip away. You'll stop at the last good row -- no worries! Sometimes I end up with the stitches sitting the wrong way on the needle, but that's a small fix compared to the messes I used to have.
Wendy
Wow, I love that trick about weaving a needle through. I have a row right now where the stitches aren't laying the way they are supposed to. That was caused by my trying to rip out and re-do. I finally gave up and decided I would just live with that one row going through the whole back of the sweater. Since it's my first one I will let this one be. Besides, if I have to rip that darned thing out one more time, I'm going back to crocheting! Thanks for the tip. Oh, how I wished I had know about this three ripping episodes ago...lol!
I can't seem to send you an email, so I hope this catches your eye.
1)Vendors at MS&W don't start selling until Saturday; at least this is what I understand from the catalog.If you go up on Friday, there's a lot of sheep action,but...2)If you haven't found it already, check out the spinners' and weavers' housecleaning pages on the internet. You can get an idea of the prices of used carders and whatnot.
Thanks Leslie. I will check that site out! I love the sheep and want to look at several different breeds that we might like to buy someday so this is a wonderful time to do it.
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