Wednesday, April 01, 2009

AT THE SAME TIME

Yesterday morning, Leah started knitting the sleeve for a Rogue hoodie, cardigan version. She was enjoying it so much that, by the end of the day, she had this (which includes 2" of turned-up inside-cuff ribbing, 12" of knitting all together):


When she'd check in with me during the day, there were a few little things we noticed that aren't quite right, but she was happy with it overall. Her gauge was spot on, consistent with her swatch, and the lower part of the sleeve fit around her arm nicely.

This morning, though, I thought the upper portion looked not quite wide enough, so we tried it on her arm for size and...oh no! Way too small!

Hm. Checked again and gauge is still perfect. Counted stitches and realized she had way less than called for. Back to the pattern notes, she almost immediately smacked herself on the forehead for having missed those four little words that have tripped up countless knitters through the ages:

AT THE SAME TIME.

Not only did she need to follow the decreases within and the corresponding increases just outside the cabled section, but she also needed to increase at the beginning and end of every however-many-rows so the sleeve gets wider as it goes up the arm. Oops.

In the past, this realization would have been terribly disheartening, but today's response, shortly after the forehead slap, was a wide grin and enthusiasm about getting to do it again! Only a day's knitting lost, plenty of learning accomplished, and the opportunity to travel this pleasant path another time, clearly enjoying the journey.
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2 Comments:

Blogger LaurieM said...

Rogue is such a fun sweater to knit! I've made it twice, and I'm contemplating doing it a third time since disasters have happened to my first two Rogues.

If it were a regular sleeve there might have been more groans about having to do it again.

3:49 PM  
Blogger ChristineMM said...

What a wonderful attitude Leah showed today. A pretty mature reaction that even some adult knitters don't have. Good for her!

11:25 AM  

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