Tuesday, April 15, 2008

10 Days In...

I am officially 10 days into knitting the Hanami Stole, and while I wouldn't say that I am enjoying it more than anything else I've ever knit, there is something about this pattern that compels me to push on and knit one more row.

I found the first two basket weave pattern repeats frustrating. I almost gave up. The only thing that kept me going was telling myself that it would get better. It had to get better.

Guess what? It did get better.


Once I was a few rows into the 3rd repeat, I actually started to enjoy knitting the stole.

One of the things that this stole has taught me is not to give up on a lace pattern until several repeats have been knit.

I'm not really a lifeline kind of gal, nor am I a "rip it back" kind of gal. I'm more of a "oh look, I'm left with two extra stitches at the end of this repeat, I think I'll K2tog and that'll fix it" or "oh look, two stitches short, I'll go back two stitches and knit into the front and back of both, and that'll fix it".

With that, I'll tell you that the first two repeats are not a pretty as they should be, but my mom always told me that if a blind man on a fast horse wouldn't notice then it was good enough. Wait, maybe that wasn't my mom. That doesn't sound like my mom. She's more of an "anything worth doing is worth doing right (i.e. perfectly)". Maybe it was my dad that gave me this gem? Stu? Probably. I really can't remember. All I know is that it is advice to live by (for me anyway).

I have now knit 5.5 of the 7 repeats. I'm debating whether or not I should add another repeat or two to the basket weave, but I think I'll reserve final judgment for once all 7 repeats are finished.

5 comments:

Julie said...

Good for you! I didn't enjoy knitting the basketweave section of Hanami at all. In fact, I only did 5 of the 7 repeats because if I kept going I thought I might gouge my eyes out with my Addi Lace needle. It still came out plenty long enough to wear around the shoulders.

Oh! and I'm so glad to hear of another knitter who is ok with fudging here and there! :P if it's going to look really obvious, I'll go back and fix it properly, but I'm all for an elusive k2tog if it's an easy solution.

Ilix said...

YAY for k2tog!!

I have joined you, I started Hanami on Sunday. We shal see how I go! Yours looks lovely. I can't wait to see it done you crazy lace knitter you!!

Anonymous said...

Catching up on your last 10 posts - wow! You are a prolific and wonderful blogger. Love the stole. Beautiful!

knitography said...

Gorgeous! I think there is something in the water in Vancouver, as one girl at my knit night just finished hers, and two of us just started. I'm doing mine out of Malabrigo lace, and I have made a few mistakes already in the basketweave portion. I do exactly what you have done - fudge it and move on! So far I think my mistakes are pretty invisible.

Julia said...

I love that theory about a blind man on a fast horse! It a theory I live by too. :)