Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Stupid Mistakes while showing off, or the saga of a hat...


Can you see the gap?

I've been knitting for about 60 years and, yet, mistakes still happen. In between persevering about what edging to put on what shawl, I decided to knit a simple hat--something on which I did not have to concentrate too much. So while waiting at the auto repair shop for a clamp to be put on my muffler, I merrily cast on, all the while talking to the woman behind the counter. Six rows later, oops. I realized instead of knitting a hat, I was possibly knitting a very small Moebius scarf. Now a twist in your circular knitting is not conducive to making a hat. Had I paid attention, I would either not have twisted the stitches, or I would have been able to fix it at the end of the row, with a little twist and a fix when I was ready to weave in the end of the yarn. No, I had to gab about how long I'd been knitting. Blab, blab, blab. So I ripped out the six rows and started over. Even cast on a few extra stitches since the circumference seemed somewhat small.
Knit two, purl two, knit two, purl two. Oops again. I should have cast on two more stitches, so I could end the row with purl two and smoothly keep knitting in the round. No problem, I told myself, increase two, it'll never show. Still blabbing with the woman, I continued knitting and showing off how I could knit without looking. So far so good. Except...
The other day, I picked up the hat again, while waiting for an appointment. Continuing with knit two, purl two, I discovered another mysterious problem. A weird knit stitch. I had made a mistake unlike any other in the past. I undid the stitch in the previous row and found that it was attached to the purl stitch with a strange loop. So I fudged again, dropped the loop and went on my merry way. Only to come to the same spot on the next round and finding the purl stitch next to the knit one I had just fixed was just as strange. And then it hit me. I must have put my knitting down while waiting to get the muffler fixed (come to think of it, I bought a chocolate chip cookie) and instead of continuing to knit in the round, turned the knitting over and started knitting back.


Does this tale remind you of Aesop's fable about the hare and the turtle? Pride cometh before the fall.

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