I know it's been a long long time since I've posted anything but I am working my way back. I have a new video in the plans for my YouTube channel so stay tuned. Though I have been away for a while I haven't been totally idle. I have been crocheting but also knitting more. I was trying to increase my knitting skills so that I can get the courage to knit actual clothing. So after about 5 hats I think I have tested more complicated knitting like lace and cables enough to dive in the deep end.Being my usual self I decided to make a fair isle vest. I have been literally drooling for the vest made by Euny Chang ever sense I saw it. In all my skill building throughout this entire year, have I done any fair isle knitting? Why no. But I must have some kind of glitch in the old gray cells when it comes to taking on new things because when I decide to do something I go for what I like and not how hard it may be to do. My first wearable would be something I had never done. I guess I put way too much faith in my tenacity or I'm just too ignorant of the challenges to know any better. I think it's a little of both.
I struggled endlessly on understanding adjustments on gauge and swatches. I just gave up on the whole idea and just went up on the needles. The swatch was in the range of the right size and so I just went for it. I worked the ribbing in the pattern specified and I hated the colors. Then I began to doubt my color combination. It was hard enough picking six colors that I liked and then imagine how they would look together. Then having to go with the LYS because my funds are too limited to buy yarn online. So I used what was available, which isn't much as far a colors go. I realized the problem is that the pattern designer should have hinted that the ribbing coloring would look like the photo if you picked three pale or pastel colors. I only had two.
Though I wasn't throwing a parade over my project so far I kept going in the hopes that it would grow on me. I got into the fair isle section and was on a role loving the design until I noticed that there were stitches coming loose. How does that happen? Did I drop a stitch and didn't notice? Whatever happened I have three holes in round 25 and I was on round 40. Not only did I not know how to fix it I didn't even know what happened or if I would do it again.
The time of truth came. Do I frog all those rows back to the ribbing or do I rip the entire thing out and start over. I am somewhat of a perfectionist so ripping it all out was the best answer. It just didn't make sense to rip that far back and still be so unhappy with the ribbing. So it all had to go. Now I had to decide how would I do the ribbing so I went to Ravelry to see what others did and decided to make the ribbing one color. I have to say that ripping all those rows out felt so freeing that I wondered why I didn't do it in the first place when I didn't like the work. Frogging makes me feel like I have learned something very valuable and the act of doing it is my confirmation that I am wiser and nothing can stop me now. Is that a bit much to get from such a destructive act? Maybe so but I already warned you about my gray cells.So being liberated from the confines of a messed up project I now start over free to get it right this time.....hopefully. I will post pics as I get further on. If you have a knitting project that you had to frog because of the colors, do share.
