Do Over

I worked on Celtic Dreams for four days, knit the darling little saddle patches, picked up the perfect number of stitches across the back, and set up the cable rows.  I paused in my knitting only to measure and hold it up against my chest.  It was a compelling few days before I realized that the elaborate cables were pulling the fabric in more and more as I progressed through a few repeats, and as I approached the 10" mark where the pattern says to stop and wait for the front to catch up before joining in the round, I knew that what I was knitting was a too-small sweater. 

This is the part of knitting that makes it a challenge.  The dispiriting moment when you know that four days of knitting is going to be sucked back into the ball winder and you must start again.
Sadly I can't find the ball winder.  It is on the list of things currently AWOL in my house, along with a Hotwheels truck known as Brutus, any gloves that fit the Mister, and the nutmeg. So the proper calculation of where I am on the yarn requirements will have to wait, and in the meantime I knit the same piece again, sizing up both the needles and the stitch count, in faith that there will be enough.

Comments

[Julie]

ouch! and it looks so beautiful too, what a shame.

[Katy]

So.Painful.
I'm not sure it helps--but what you had completed sure looked nice. ;) Sigh.

[Mary Beth]

oh poop. Only us knitters can understand the feeling of such a set-back. Hang in there, it will be worth it in the end (it looks gorgeous!).

[PumpkinMama]

No fun. But attempt #2 looks like a lot of headway was made nonetheless. Stash ghosts are now f*cking with toys and spices too?

[Lee Ann]

Celtic Screams. Ouch. I feel for you :-(

[Carole]

Well that's a disappointment. Hope things are back on track soon.

[knitteriam]

You have my condolences...

[Vicki]

I'm reasonably sure that I'd have knit much further, adding a few more days for ball winder to suck back, trying to convince myself that it would all work out in the end. Good for you. No. 2 looks great!

[Tracy]

UGH! What a frustrating thing to have happened. I had a similar experience, except that in my case, I realized midway through the front that I definitely wouldn't have enough yarn to complete the project. I couldn't bear to frog the whole thing, so it still sits on the needles some 6 years later! (I even put a picture of the poor sad thing on my blog...)

What you've done so far looks gorgeous, so if you can manage to get going again, you'll have something magnificent!

[June]

Better now than later.

I think I have the same swift as you - cherry swift from Halcyon yarn? Made by some guy in Maine?

[Judy]

Thank you! I came upon your blog some time ago when Yarn Harlot praised your arrrghyles. I have been working on Celtic Dreams and had the same result....way too small. I knew I was in trouble when my best friend politely asked who I was making it for, perhaps my tiny teen daughter? It has been sitting in my wips basket for two weeks because I haven't had the stones to frog it. You've given me the courage to get out the ball winder and begin anew!

[Risa]

Ouch. I'm sorry. You now have me thinking I should probably just go ahead and make the larger size rather than blocking the hell out of the one that just would snug my bust. I'll be a few days behind you as I need to finish up Ariann before I start.

[kmkat]

The Hotwheels truck and the nutmeg are easily replaced -- just a quick trip to the store. The four days of your life, not so much. My sincerest condolences and best of luck on #2. It looks great so far.

[Lorette]

Oh yeah. I'd have knit the whole damn thing, knowing full well it wasn't going to fit, but not willing to face reality.
And the Hotwheels? You'll find it in the middle of the night when you step on it on the way to the bathroom.

[Ruth]

So, so, painful. But at least you've made the right call now, rather than repeating my Gauge Disaster of Which We Must Not Speak.

[Lucia]

Ouch.

If you make contact with the gremlins who took your ball winder et al., could you ask them what they've done with my blocking board?

[Daphne]

I like how your tidy List of Things Lost makes it sound as if everything else is readily available but these missing items all went off on a bender. What kind of a bender? Well, I suppose since it's the *nutmeg* that's missing, we know what kind.

Though at Lucia's house, well, I suspect someone "helped" clean, because I don't know how else a blocking board can disappear (not the kind I've got anyway).

[Cathy]

Oh no!!! I'm so sorry. I hate when that happens.It's happen to me while making a birthday gift. UGH!!

[--Deb]

That IS painful . . .

But do you know what I'm wondering about? Why do you have two sets of shoulder saddles? Shouldn't you be knitting one set, picking up the stitches for the back and knitting it for its 10" or so and then picking up the front from the other side of the SAME pair of saddles?? So that the front and back will be one piece?

(See: http://chappysmom.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/img_2229.JPG)

[Debi]

It's so beautiful Julia! Almost worth knitting twice :)

[jessie]

Hey, I can't find MY nutmeg, either!

I congratulate you for trying again with the sweater. I would take failure at the 4-day mark as a sign that this Wasn't Meant to Be. But I'm a quitter.

[Laurie]

Ohhhh, no disassemble! Owie.

[Diane E.]

Ow,you were choo-ching along so quickly. That Blackwater looks so great in Cables!

[Monica]

Oh man, that bites. Glad you caught it early.

[Valerie in San Diego]

We're all 'ouch'ing with ya!