I think I like the Monday Updates just as much as you all seem to! I get excited to show you the new things that have come in from the week before. Tonight is no exception. I know that many of you have been waiting on the Madelinetosh DK to get back in stock. We were waiting for them to get enough DK yarn base back to dye up our order, and it finally arrived last week. We put 40 colors up tonight, and of course we’ll continue to get more in the weeks to come. This is a heavy DK/ light worsted weight and is great for sweaters and quick to knit hats and scarves. I also used it to make two Mara Shawls last winter, and I liked them so much that I kept them both. (Please note, I wear mine the other way. The none-bib way.) Mine each took about 2.5 skeins to knit. I knit the body out of 1 skein – just keep knitting until you run out – and then used the rest for the ruffle at the bottom.
We’ve also added in a new base from Juliespins – her Lace 960. That means there are 960 luscious yards of laceweight in each skein. It’s really beautiful. I shy away from lace. I made one scarf out of 100% silk laceweight, and I think it scarred me for life. (Was it the slippery silk? Or the fact that it was knit longways? Or the small diameter of laceweight? Probably a combination of all three. Julie’s superwash merino laceweight would probably be easier on my brain and fingers.) What is a good shawl pattern for 900-1000 yards of lace? Maybe if I see the right pattern, I’ll be tempted to give it another go.
We were able to get some more of the Regia World Ball yarn in again. This self-striping yarn is a lot of fun to knit up. Many of the colors will match up with your favorite sports teams, and the Italy and Rome colors are perfect for Christmas! (Oh – speaking of Christmas – Jill at Studio June is dyeing up more of the “It’s a Loopy Christmas” colorway for us, since the first batch sold out and many of you have emailed and still wanted a skein. We’ll have it in a couple of weeks. Let us know if you’d like an email when it arrives.)
To round it out, we have re-stocks and some new colors in three of Alpaca With a Twist’s lines – Socrates (fingering weight), Jumbo Baby Twist (DK weight) and Fino (laceweight, silk and alpaca. This stuff tempts me, too.)
I started a new shawl over the weekend, and I had to re-start it THREE times. Not because it’s difficult. Just because I apparently can’t read and count from time to time. What is the most number of times that you have frogged something and started it again? Is there a maximum number of times you’d re-do it before giving up? I was extra careful the 4th time and it worked. I’m not sure I would’ve given up, just because it is an easy pattern to begin with and there was no need for me to keep screwing it up. On a hard pattern that I had to rip a lot? I might give up after the third time….
Sheri timetoheadhomeformoreknittingonmyshawl
How many times would I rip out and start again on an easy pattern? Four, but no more. Unfortunately, this happened to me recently with a hat. It was simple, but somehow I kept messing up. The fourth try did it. I told myself – this is it and it worked!
I think 4 times is the most I’ve frogged and restarted (198 yards of heaven). I only have 2 projects that I frogged and gave up. One was Honeybee Stole about 40% finished with many errors and the other was a pair of socks from Noro Kureyon. (Actually the socks were confiscated and frogged by a knitting friend because I kept whining about the socks and yarn.)
In art school we learned to throw away our work often if it was not going well.
Our teachers would do a demo, then throw away their work as well. In ceramics, when you are learning to make pots, you have to cut them open to see if they are even.
Best training I ever got.
When I am designing I frog as many times as it takes.
I have frogged a sweater 90% done.
In working a pattern, I frog until I get it.
Maybe 3-25(?) times.
Started a beautiful lace patterned blanked for a grandchild expected next summer. After 4 tries (254 cast-on stitches) I gave up. The pattern was complicated enough (for me) that I couldn’t figure out where I was losing 1 stitch each row. I found another pattern just as lovely and it’s coming along great. There were too many bad vibes going into that other blanket!
Oh I have to leave a comment on this question.
I have frogged my Ishbel 3 times. The 4th and final time I cut it from the cake and put it in a frame. I’ve officially given up!
The yarn, Handmaiden Sea Silk 150 in Periwinkle (from TLE!) looks beautiful now in the pattern from Samantha Roshak called Icing.
I frogged my Girasole at least 6 times. The seventh effort is still on the needles. I haven’t touched it in almost a year. Ugh. The reason I put it down was I had another mistake and I really should rip it out again and start allllllllllllll over. lol It’s the process, right? 🙂
I think I frogged some socks 6 times, but I would guess my limit is about 4. Oh well…..
Although I have gotten used to “tinking”(taking it out) I am annoyed beyond all aggravation when I am off by “1” stitch. One simple stitch can throw a cable pattern into total disarray. One stitch is the dread all for me. I never know where the mess is. Bunny
I’m working on a pair of socks right now that I started on Sunday, and have frogged and re-started 3 times! Apparently I forgot how to read charts, and first, went from left to right, instead of the other way around, and then, when the chart said to do an increaase, I did it in the wrong stitch, not once, but FOUR times! (twice on each sock) I think I’ve got it right this time, the pattern seems to be laaying out correctly.
I don’t remember ever frogging and then giving up, if something isn’t working out right, I usually give the project a “Time Out” and put it away for a while (once it was 8 months!) Usually after the hiatus, I see it with fresh eyes, and the problem is solved.
I’m working on an EASY shawl right now, and I’ve frogged it at least four times. I always end up one stitch short, and can’t for the life of me find my mistake. I’m not ready to give up, but I am frustrated because I know it’s my mistake.
I LOVE LOVe LOVE Socrates – I used it for Talespin shawl – yummy.
1000 yds —you could do Fiori di Sole
or Forget me not shawl. I love the Vernal Equinox Shawl Surprise
Can’t wait to see what you choose.
Number of times starting over? Countless. 🙂 I think I must have done the start of my first (and only, I might add) lace doily dozens of times. I have also been known to wear out the first stretch of yarn when starting a new project if it uses a technique new to me, such as the tubular cast on or provisional cast on.
The Mad DK looks so lovely!!!! Thanks for all the shawlette inspiration in your recent posts too.
I don’t think I have a limit. If I want the piece enough I will frog repeatedly to get it right. If, on the other hand, it is something I simply cast on so I would have something to do with my hands, then I am more willing to dump it into frog pond.
I restarted Girasole 5 times before I got it to my liking. It was the first time I had used laceweight yarn and my knitting was a little inconsistent at first. Also I was using 2 circular needles since I don’t have DPNs. I’m glad I persevered.
I frogged a little sleeveless top with a lacy bottom border about a half dozen times in the car while traveling. After we got home, I emailed the company and, sure enough, there was an error in the pattern for the size I was knitting. They sent me the correction, but I never knitted it. Ended up trading pattern and yarn on Ravelry.
The number of times I have started something and then frogged it is too numerous too count. What is dramatic are the things that I have totally finished and then frogged including a men’s cabled sweater that was big enough for King Kong. How I didn’t notice that until it was finished and then sewn together I will never know. But 27 years later my boyfriend, then husband, still has it.
I am working on a simple sweater right now that I frogged 4 times. Fifth time seems to have been the charm. The worst is that it is worked in one piece from the bottom up and on size 2 needles, so it is a lot of stitches!
7! But I got it after that and since then, never more than 3, so I must be improving!!
Wendy
I find that the easier a pattern is supposed to be, the more likely it will be frogged at some point! Must be lack of concentration! But I don’t think I’ve ever started over again after frogging for the 4th time. Just wind up that yarn and use it for something else.
By the way, Sheri, one way to ease into using laceweight is to pick a crochet pattern—the frogging is much less traumatic!
I am a little haphazard with my knitting…
If I miss a stitch then I either take out a row or three until I am back to the right number or…..Heavens above!!! I just keep knitting and make one or two stitches or knit 2 toghether where ever needed and keep going…it is hand made after all, right? Mistakes make it unique. I am usually commited to both the yarn and the pattern to make the item… no matter what I do in the middle.
What’s a stich here or there among thousands. Nobody but me ever knows. Knitting is fun, not a chore!
Sit back, relax, knit!
What about Franklin Habit’s new shawl pattern, Sahar?
It’s done in DK-weight “Honor” from Lorna’s Laces, but would look equally wonderful in Sanguine Gryphon’s Bugga! or Madelinetosh “Pashmina” (And yeah….I kinda went and bought all three…so I guess I’m going to end up knitting three of them….”
As for how many times – well, remember last year when we were doing Girasoles? I’m still working on my two – the one I did in Dream in Color Baby is down to the edging, but I’m still on Chart C for the one I’m doing in Malabrigo Lace – which is OH SO SOFT, but felts OTN if you look at it funny. At least it does for me….
I’ve started a project 5/6 times occasionlly – usually depends on how badly I want the item I”m tring to knit. Sometimes I keep trying until I get it right out of sheer stubborness – “this pattern is going to get the best of me” type of attitude. Then there are those projects that do have bad vibes, as one of the earlier posters said, and those I give up on . No point working on a project with bad vibes!
Restarting is often part of the process. One time sticks out vividly in my memory. I had set aside a sideways knit sweater that was my constant companion during my son’s lengthy surgeries. After gaining a few pounds, I decided it was time to take the project back nearly to the beginning. The morning I was unraveling it, the news began coverage of the 9/11 attacks. More than my sweater was “coming apart”.
I am more of a process knitter than many. It is unusual for me to actually give up on a pattern. She may go into time out for awhile in order for her to think about how she is behaving, but I will go back and figure it out. It is not any more unusual, tho, for me to frog after I have figured it out if the pattern and yarn don’t seem committed to one another. I have 2 skeins of Noro that do not seem to want to get along with anything!