Dear Kay,
What a night! What pfaffed-up TV knit nite! I blame it on a mini-binge of the most recent episodes of Nashville. (The entire economy of this city hinges on whether ABC is going to renew the show for a fifth season. We are not going to survive if this TV soap opera is shut down. Somebody cook up a Kickstarter.)
I finished casting off the final stitch of Kieran Foley’s Kerchief, and it looked like this:
Yay! A wacky border on a little kerchief.
What a snaky, curly, tangly edge. I thought: Wow, that Kieran Foley is an intrepid designer. Who would have ever designed such a pile of stitches on a little kerchief pattern?
The answer, of course, is nobody.
Somehow, I doubled the number of stitches in the border. DOUBLED THEM. The basic premise of this kerchief is constant increases, so I was all in on the increasing.
Cramming a thousand stitches on a needle didn’t raise a red flag. I thought: You go, Kieran! You make us knitters work for our border!
The border should have 40 pointy bits. See?
The pattern creates 40 points if you follow the directions. I, on the other hand, created 78 points. Have you ever seen such a mess? Can you believe I patiently and quietly cast off 1,170 stitches without having the thought, Gee, this is a hell of a lot of edge stitches for a project uses only 420 yards of yarn.
One woman’s knitting disaster is another woman’s blocking fantasy come true. Filled with loathing; filled with joy—isn’t that life? I couldn’t wait to see how this thing would pin out. As a believer in the mighty redemptive power of blocking, I just knew that a stern pin-down would make something of what looked like a hot mess.
I gave it a spin in my OXO Salad Spinner/Demoistening Device.
I used all my sharpest pins.
It is clear that this edge is going to be a ruffle.
A really ruffly ruffle. When the ruffle is a thousand stitches wide, it is going to be super ruffly.
For scale, the center line is 13″—this is not a big piece of knitting. My plan is to leave it on the blocking board for days.
I think I am going to love this kerchief. And Kieran Foley hasn’t heard the last of me wrecking I mean knitting his patterns . . .
I turned my back for four minutes.
Soaking wet, didn’t matter. I AM HEAR TO HELP YOU FOOD LADY IN YOUR HOUR OF NEED #helpfulknittingcats
Love,
Ann
PS Now obsessed with my overshoot on the border, I have studied a bunch of Kerchief projects on Ravelry, and I have counted projects with 45, 38, 42, 40, and 58 points. So weird. You blow your stitch count during the eyelet section increases, and your fate is sealed.
PSS For those who want to make this pattern (and you should–it’s great), my doom was sealed in Row 1 of the Eyelet section. I did an entire row of yarnover/knit 1 where I should have simply knit, thus doubling the stitch count from 331 to 662. The increases in the border took the stitch count over 1,000. It is a testament to the TV show Nashville that I didn’t even stop to count at any time during this border. See, ABC? Nashville fans lose all touch with reality when watching that show. Renew Nashville!
Stunning. I love it.
Nothing wrong with extra ruffle, it just means. Ore drama! It looks a little like Eagle wings
Could you possibly pull the edges out more? I don’t know, make the whole thing WIDER?
I have not yet watched this week’s episode, but am so looking forward to the return of Juliette!!!
I know–that’s what I thought I could do, but there are so many stitches that I’d have to rig up a 3D vertical spiral blocking scheme to make the border lay flat. It would be two feet high, a helix of bad knitting!
Now I really want to see that.
The OXO salad spinner step feels like a crossover into Alton Brown’s “Good Eats.”
Loving the Zauber colors!
!!!
Maybe I should just eat it and be done.
You were obviously (subconsciously) aiming for an Elizabethan/Tudor look to your Kerchief!
Ann, It may not matter much whether ABC renews “Nashville”. . .they could still choose to film it in California or Canada, if your governor signs some bass-ackward bigoted bills the nutjobs in the state congress have sent his way. “Protecting religious liberty” and “common sense” my Aunt Annie’s fanny! Those heathens pushing such bills obviously never heard of Christ’s commandment to do unto others as they would have others do unto them!
Sorry. . .I’m off my soapbox now. Your shawl looks wonderful, no matter how may extra yarn overs you did. Think of them as good exercise. Besides, your shawl got the Kermit Shayne Seal of Approval — even before it dried! And with pins still in it!! How are you ever going to top that???
The idiocy of the Tennessee state legislature cannot be overstated.
Ah…., you say that because you’re not from North Carolina! Sigh….
Amen and amen!
Ann (and you, too, Kay), sometimes I almost hate you temptresses. You lead me down one path of knitting lust after another. My folder of knitting patterns bulges with urges I have not resisted. My mailbox bulges with balls of yarn which have somehow been ordered to fulfill these irresistible urges. And, now, yet another…we’ll see if that pesky row trips me up, too. I thought I had resisted the first post about Zauberballs and Kevin, but you had to do it again and I folded like a gauzy summer scarf…oh, no, that was yesterday and Kay…
The scarf looks great – it will have real impact. Gotta love blocking.
I know I’m a party pooper, and I’ve never been a ruffle person, but I’d counsel frogging back to the yarn overs.
I’ve never been a ruffle person . . . until now . . .
Loved the post! My one-eyed cat, Miss Maudie, also LOVES the protects on the blocking boards! She crawls right in there, over and between needles…crazy.
I’m always a bit comforted when either you or Kay misses something in a pattern – I don’t feel so alone in my knitting blunders. I think, “Even the Modern Daily ladies can make these kinds of mistakes…”
And I always think shawl/kerchiefs look like manta rays when blocked. Love the colors!
I think it’s just refreshing that neither Ann nor Kay have the desire to present to their readers a “perfect” knitter. You guys are real, human, you make mistakes too, just like us, and that’s why we love you. And your ruffly kerchief. You make lemonade out of lemons, and show us that it’s fun all the while you’re doing it.
It looks great! I’m surprised that you didn’t run out of yarn.
There is a LOT of yardage in a Crazy Z skein!
G-r-o-a-n! We’ve all done it…more times for me than I can count! I love the colors, and if you like ruffles, block the living daylights out of it and enjoy it as a design element. You’re a pro at making lemonade out of lemons!
Oh my! I thought the first photo was a Woolly Wormhead hat! What a hysterical post!!!
Ann, I haven’t watched Nashville since The wedding. I was glad they finally got through it, but the preview of daddy Deacon’s jealous rage in the following episode was more than I could stomach. Wanna talk me into a comeback?
Honestly, I’m not sure I can. It’s kind of dire at this point, but still fun to watch if only to name-check all the locations. I’m the last Nashvillian who has not been an extra–my pal Judy of the great kitchen n garden blog judyschickens.org was a nurse in a couple of episodes. Kay’s niece at Vanderbilt has run into Connie Britton twice now. Not sure what I’m doing wrong here.
During the wedding episode I saw three friends as extras…love it even more since I’ve moved away to CT.
Kerchief has gone from pretty to Fabulous.
I am so glad I’m not the only one who adds design features to her knitting and who says “no way am I ripping that number of stitches back.”
I’m not usually up for ruffles either but I love it!! I think you improved it. Way to go!!
It looks organic! I feel myself slipping closer to the edge of the Kevin rabbit hole…
I did a similar thing. I started a small shawl to get back into things after my mother’s death. Two thirds of the way through I came out of it and realized I had 900 stitches instead of 400. Since I don’t have a cat, there was no way to assess if it was still an ok knit. Rippited.
I admire your fortitude! So sorry about your mom.
I shouldn’t be talking to you. By ‘discovering’ this designer, my list of I-need-to-knit-this has doubled.
I shouldn’t be talking to you. By ‘discovering’ this designer, my list of I-need-to-knit-this has doubled.
A knitter should always put her own stamp (or extram 1,000 stitches) on a design to make it her/his own. Well done!
Oh yes, it’s now the Shayne Variation on a Kieran Foley Design.
My cats like wet wool too. Go figure.
And hey, I used a salad spinner to dry my latest thing yesterday, for the first time ever, thanks to comments on this blog! My life is vastly improved.
I would chalk the whole matter up to artistic license and call it a day. Also, where is your blocking board from?
I bought 2 sets of those interlocking foam playmats to use for blocking–cheap and easy to store. They aren’t marked out in inches but they fit my limited budget and limited space, plus you can configure them to fit whatever you’re blocking.
I got it at least ten years ago–I think it’s discontinued, judging from a quick search. It’s a sturdy thing, but cumbersome. I’m intrigued by the Knitter’s Pride modular blocking board, nine pieces you fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.
I have those blocking boards. Easy to store and haul out when I want them. Sturdy enough to withstand multitudes of pins. Cat has also approved them — she always lays on them as soon as I get them out. But I’d trade them for your cumbersome board because the grid has to make it easier to keep things straight and/or lined up.
I pin out my knitting on a blocking board, using the dining room table. Then it gets isolated in the guest room, to prevent sleeping on it by the Tuxedo cat in my house. He cries about being denied access to the guest room and the knitting, but tough luck!
They care. They care so much.
How in Yarnsville were you able finish the project with one ball of yarn? Doubling the stitch count adds a lot of yarn the last time I checked! Love it though – it’s very pretty!
I KNOW! I blew the pattern by not working four rows of the eyelet pattern preceding the border, so I lucked out. The lameness of my focus on all this cannot be overstated–it’s like a monkey was making this thing. Actually, a monkey would have wondered why there were so many stitches on the needle toward the end. Me? I was just snacking on popcorn and having a fine time . . .
we love helpful knitting cats!
LOVE.IT.
I hope you’ll send a snap or link to the designer – he should not miss this!
It looks awesome with 78 points! And also with a handsome helpful cat on it.
LOL thanks for making my morning!
So very funny! Knitting is so interesting , especially when you two do it!! Looks gorgeous even with the extra design element that makes it your own!!!
When you try it on, if it’s fab, you keep it, if it’s funky, you frog back. The colorwork is so pretty you could just end it there if you lose all steam.
Love how the cat so deftly made his way into the center of all those pins! Crazy…
Stunning indeed.
It looks awesome! That’s the type of mistake I’d do myself!
I am going to make this! Thanks!!!!! Renew “Nashville!”
Gotta say, I kind of love the ruffles. All of them.
Aww . . . Kermit slept on it while it was WET. True love.
I bet Kieran Foley would approve of your variation, seconding Kermit. He has led me down many a rabbit hole (Kieran Foley, not Kermit).
When he posts new pictures on his blog it makes me want to drop everything and move to Dublin immediately. He has such an eye — how does he make trash floating in a puddle look so gorgeous? Also, Mini the dog. Awww.
I love the extra ruffliness of your variation! Hope it makes you happy, too.
PS: Those salad spinners have come a long way from the 1980’s version. No hand crank? Just a push? Wow.
I love that your mistakes turn an already interesting piece into a masterpiece…mine call for a fast funeral or even cremation!
don’t change a thing! it is stunning ! beautiful!
Wow, that is beautiful! Very nice mistake. I’m waiting for a block of empty house time to catch up on Nashville. Love that show!!!
This is great! You have managed to make it more bird-like than the unmodified design, and I LOVE that. I am an obsessive stitch counter, mostly because I am allergic to anything that ends up being much more than 250 stitches. (I will skip patterns that have increases and decreases, but DON’T INCLUDE A STITCH COUNT! at the end of the row.) You are brave, indeed.
A great illustration of the principle that a repeated mistake becomes a design feature. Also Kieran Foley scares me — in a good way. There’s also that little frisson of fear that I get in high places — “What if I decide to jump?”
Very pretty! Also, like the color combinations. Ann, you are definitely able to hang in and see something to the finish. Have you planned out how you want to position it (ruffles front, back, side) when you wear it.
BTW, I enjoyed the demo with the salad spinner. Thanks!
LoveDiane
Oooh! Looked all Dale Chihuly! Maybe it’s not in need of a blocking. But seems a waste not to use your patented black and white cat stone – warmth and weight!
Chihuly – exactly!
This is MAGNIFICENT!! It looks like one of those elaborate Coast Salish feather capes.
It’s the Trans Am logo!! Jealous!!
You mean like this?
Why does that make me think of a Journey album cover. Clearly, you didn’t stop believin’.
Ohmygosh! Loved this story and impressed with your thinking that this will all block out. As we used to say in the software biz, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature!
This is a beautiful Phoenix that rose from binge watching TV. That is true knit nirvana! Thank you for sharing a truism in knitting- a repeated mistake is a design detail. Thank you for sharing the salad spinner for excess water removal of small knits. I love the tips and the humor we share!
Love it! I too have the same great blocking board you have. Do you know that the company doesn’t make them anymore? Many of my knitter friends that didn’t buy one (when they should have ) are wondering where to get a decent one. Instead of using the giant puzzle floor pieces used in daycares and or yoga mats…any suggestions?
I love the way it turned out.
I lurve it!
[sic]
Also thanks for one of you r funniest posts. Which is saying quite a lot.
Quite beautiful. Aren’t mistakes wonderful when they are really Design Elements?
Oops! I’m so late to the party – my internet service must’ve been disrupted by the weather system created by all of us knitters who were shaking our heads “yes, yes!” in recognition of that knitting-on-when-something-is-clearly-not-right tendency to denial we share.
What an awesome piece of knitting it turned out to be!
i am consumed with knitting envy and Nashville envy. here in little old UK we are soooo deprived and likely to stay so in my case because its coming back on a channel we don’t have.. I plan to get the boxed set and binge. I don’t even know if Deacon comes through surgery (well I do really) but I so miss it. Please post a picture of the ruffles being worn – and not by the cat.
I feel a little guilty getting so many laughs out of your “situation/mistakes.” What a delightful post. You really encourage me who can barely keep track of a k1p1 while carrying on a conversation and casts on almost all projects 3 times before getting it right. The shawl is beautiful and the cat approves.
ooh eeps, haha. thats dedication, in the end it looks amazing! i have had this pattern saved for a long time, i’m so glad you made it and shared, moving up the queue now!