My Tabby Cat is coming along well – that’s the grey, tabby-stripe jumper I’m knitting, not Purcey the new ginger kitten! He is coming along well too 😀
I’ve done the back and front and was storming though the sleeve – it was very straight forward…
…Cast on 68 stitches, do the beady edge, knit straight stocking stitch until it’s 23cm long – what could go wrong?
I reached the magical 23cm length while on my lunch break, sitting in the stunningly beautiful Middle Temple Gardens near work. These are private gardens owned by legal firms based in Middle Temple but the public are allowed to use them over lunch – mostly office workers like me having lunch and basking in the sun. It’s one of the few places in London where everyone seems to respect the grounds – I’ve never seen anyone leave litter or behave badly here. Heaven!
This is what it looks like…
I counted my stitches.
I was puzzled – I had 58 stitches, not the intended 68???
How could I loose 10 stitches? I was checking them periodically as I want along? There weren’t any big holes anywhere?
I was dumbstruck. Then I realised what I had done. …
I tend to count my stitches in batches of 20,so,
“68 stitches, that’s easy”, I thought,”That’s 20 + 20 +18″.
And that was how I counted them right up until 23cm. Of course the Eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that 20 + 20 + 18 = 58 not 68!!!
I pulled the needles out and stared at all my wasted work – not quite believing how utterly stupid I had been…
I tried to think of ways to fix it. Nope! Nothing to do but rip and start again 🙁
Fortunately it ripped quite easily – I just had to take extra care at the end of each row where it snagged a little.
I sat and cast on again – this time I counted properly – yep, I definitely had 68 stitches the second time.
I cannot express how head-smackingly stupid I felt. I have never done that before – I really must learn to count 🙁
Some more sunny lunch breaks in Middle Temple and one sleeve is done – Slogging through the last sleeve now and yes – I do have the magic 68 stitches I counted them twice and got Ben to check them for me!
I’m glad that ripped out ok, it looks like it would be a sod to do. It was just the worlds biggest swatch.
The gardens look lovely and a great place to relax in the sun.
D’oh! Well done on ripping carefully and do give purrrrrrcey a scritch from me, he’s cute!
Also, you know that kidsilk haze stash you have? I was browsing my newest book and spotted these:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mermaids-tail
Oh Dear! Much as I love Kidsilk Haze, I don’t think I would want it in socks – just imagine sweaty feet and hairy mohair ::shudder::
😮
It’s one of those things isn’t … once you make a mistake once it’s easy to just keep making it. I’m sure we all have similar stories, were we honest enough to admit to them!
We all think we have a fail save way of counting stitches and rows whether it’s one of those whirly counters or good old fashioned pen and paper. Do we ever loose count, oh yes!
Looking forward to reading more of your posts.
Love the tulip photo… and of course the fast-growing Purcey ^..^
C’est la vie, easily done but hell to rip!