theraineysisters knitting and so much more

I have been knitting away on Peacock and loving it.  I don’t know why I am enjoying this so much.  I think it is the feel of the yarn, the sheer brilliance of the pattern, and the fact that each row is different and seems to go quickly despite the number of sts.

Here is a progress shot:

And another:

I am probably about 8-10 rows from the bind off.  I say “bind off” but it is really a “crochet off.”  I am not the best crocheter to say the least, so I expect that phase to take a while :).

Tomorrow evening (or actually THIS evening, since it is well after midnight), I am teaching a class that I did not know spaced out about until 10 minutes ago!  Ruh roh!!  I did not have it on my calendar and the class is full.  It is the I-cord class, which is a ton of fun, but I’m not prepared.  I’ll need to get up early and pack my stuff — so off to bed I go!

Anyone who says knitting is not like brain surgery has never tried to rip out a few rows of fine lace knitting! 

Late last night I was trying to get one more row in on the Peacock Shawl and kaplooie!  A stitch popped off the needle and the shawl started to disembowel!  I attempted to fix it, but it was nearly impossible — too many yarnovers, triple decreases, etc. and it had unravelled 3 rows back.  Needless to say, I was BESIDE myself!  My lifeline was 16 rows back and I did not want to go back that far, seeing as how I had already done that once this week (true confession time 😉 ).  I knew if I went back to that lifeline, I would put Peacock away, perhaps forever.

So, I decided that I needed to try once again to rip back a few rows instead of going all the way to my lifeline.  This was at 12 midnight, so I was very tired and it was very dark.  But emergency brain surgery waits for no one.

This is a picture of my operating suite in the harsh light of day.  You can see my instruments: scalpels, sutures, magnifying devices, etc.

Peacock is being knit on US 4 needles, so I ripped back past the aneurysm (I believe about 5 rows) and used a US 1 needle to pick up the sts as I pulled out the yarn.  I did so in such a way as to be picking up the purled sts, not the right side “lacework” row.  This actually worked better than I had anticipated.  I then transferred each st to the US 4 needle, making sure every st was placed on the needle in the correct position, counting all sts, making sure the pattern was absolutely correct, and replacing all stitch markers.  Whew! 

This morning I knitted the next chart row AND (you guessed it) placed a lifeline!  It was painstaking, but the patient came through the procedure perfectly, though the surgeon is a bit worse for wear!

Let’s recap: The purpose of a lifeline is to provide a place in your knitting that you can rip back to if necessary.  The key to a lifeline is that all before it must be error free, or why didn’t you fix it already?  I have been placing lifelines at the end of each chart on the Peacock Shawl — except for Chart #6.  Why?  Because I was so excited to start on Chart #7 that I forgot. 

So, I had just finished Row 9 of Chart 7 and decided I better put in a lifeline – I did NOT want to have to rip back all the way to Chart 5 if a mistake reared its ugly head.  Before setting the lifeline, I knew I had to validate that there were no mistakes, and I was quite confident that I had it all going on!  I was cooking along and paying attention and every row was lining up with the previous row.  Au contraire, Over-Confident One!  There was a serious mistake in the very center of the shawl.  I decided to purl back halfway to the center and fix it on the back side because it was such a chore to pick out the sts one by one over hundreds of sts.

Yes, you guessed correctly.  I could not fix it, so now I had to rip out the half a purl row AND the last half of the knit row.  It took forever. I still could not figure out what I did, but did eventually fix it.  I finished up the row and decided that I better hurry up and set my lifeline.  I recounted to validate the perfection of the row and — tada — there was ANOTHER mistake!!!!!  AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!  This was easily fixed, but I’ll tell you — lace is an easy thing to botch.  You think you are really paying attention and a yarnover passes you by.

Here I am on Chart 7.  It is deceiving because Chart 7 is the final chart before the edging, so you think you are nearing the end.  But, I am probably only 50% done with the knitting.  It is true!  Chart 7 is ~50 rows and each is getting longer.  Plus the edging is deep. 

I feel much better now that I have a lifeline.  I may place one every ten rows or so just to feel more secure.

The great part of my knitting this weekend is that I watched Pride and Prejudice and knitted much of the day yesterday.  Oooh Baby — Mr. Darcy is one cute dude (any excuse will do to show this again ;)).

“And your parents are doing well?”

PS — I keep having trouble with the center — and it is nothing!!  What is my problem?  NOTE: Rhetorical question 😉