Not all the way. But enough. Remember I said I was going to tink back and "fix it" today? Well, I tinked. And man...I have no idea what happened, but I couldn't find the mistake - though I did find 3 more!
So I had to frog, but FIRST - I spent a couple of hours figuring out how to do what I should have done in the first place: Put in a lifeline. Normally, one puts a lifeline in BEFORE it's needed, especially when knitting lace. The "afterthought" lifeline is kind of a pain in the rear end, to be honest.
Here's where I found the biggest mess, and I really don't know how to fix it. I must've tinked the row UNDER where I was, and that really screwed it up. And then, somehow, stitches got crossed over. And then I just figured that it wasn't worth trying to fix, tink or do anything but frog. So then I looked back at the pattern and thought that maybe this was the Universe answering a thought of mine - I really was regretting the third buttonhole because I didn't like where it landed. Well, lucky me - I got to rip it out!
But first, as I said: afterthought lifeline. I grabbed some contrasting yarn of the same weight, a tapestry needle and then looked at the pattern to see where the most logical spot was to rip back to.
I figured just after the shoulder darts. I have no idea what they're really called - they look like darts, as this is a top-down sweater and the yoke has a drop-sleeve feature in it.
It really is good to frog it (I keep repeating that...) because if you recall - if I even said - the directions had this wonky "knit 1 pattern repeat of the Gull Lace" and then you separate the sleeves. But that wasn't what the pictures showed, and it didn't make sense. If the designer was just telling us to knit the 8-stitch "button band" before and after the Gull Lace pattern, then that's one thing, but that's not how I interpreted it. So I was able to frog out that random 4-row repeat of the pattern - which ended up right under the arms - which is an idiotic place to put lace upon which to later attach a sleeve... So this is MY interpretation of HER pattern. This could be interesting. Or a total disaster.
Anyway, as you can see, if you have garter stitching (knitting every row), you have a little "in between" space that has those little upside-down "U" shaped stitches in between the bumps. Those are where you run your lifeline. On the right leg of those. It took me 4 tries to get that done correctly.
I wasn't going to do the yarn-overs, either, but then, after more study of the pattern (this is why this took me all afternoon), I realized I truly had no idea of how to increase to the stitch count I needed unless I did the yarn-overs. My friend "D" isn't able to help me on this one, so I was on my own. So yarn-overs were going to happen. It's important to use a contrasting color to do this after-thought lifeline. One website I read even said that unwaxed dental floss would work. Though since this is a silk-wool blend, I wasn't keen on that, even if I had unwaxed floss.
Side note: I used unwaxed floss to lace up the back of my counted-cross stitch pieces. It holds like iron and doesn't deteriorate like thread might. There's your nickel's worth of trivia just in case you want to be a hit at your next party...I got the lifeline in place, did a simple knot to hold it together and then started to pull it apart. Bye-bye lace...
I didn't cry - I don't cry about stuff like that. There's a lot going on in the world, and knitting isn't something to cry over, really. Am I frustrated? Yeah. But I'll get over it. As you can see, I got to the lifeline and along the way, I was rewinding the yarn loosely, so as to not compromise its tensile strength, but also so as to allow it to unkink. I'm setting one of the balls aside, so that it can relax. Thankfully, "D" gave me more than enough, so I can start a fresh ball when I need to do so.
After reaching the end of the frogging, I started putting the stitches back on the needle. You have to be careful to not twist them - with the way this yoke is constructed, you'll spot a twisted stitch from 40 paces. Or at least your friendly knitter will... Of course, it's easy to untwist it before you knit it, but "as long as you're there" anyway, fixing it up - you may as well do it right the first time. You run the needle alongside the contrast yarn, and just pull it gently along. This is done on a circular - Addi Circulars, a part of the interchangeable set, with a cable extender because it's almost 300 stitches. Once I got all the stitches on, I was able to unknot the lifeline and pull it out. I still have the yarn I used to hold the sleeves, so when I get back there, I can re-use it. No sense tossing it.
I counted again, and am now doing the RS row (which is where I should be) for the yarn-overs. I've adjusted all my notes, and I'm ready to go at it again.
In Other News...
Attendance wasn't what I'd have liked it to be. And honestly? One friend of mine was downright rude about using oils on her dog. She's entitled to her opinion. She's not entitled to be rude, though. Which is why I sometimes have trouble and compartmentalize people in my life. Unfortunately, I know some very narrow-minded people.
I'm going to do the class again, and "G" says she thinks I'm ready to do it on my own!
Hot, Hot, Hot...
...or not so hot, thankfully. We thought it might've been me, but today it was kind of warm in the house. My temperature sensor has been whacked for a while (thanks, menopause). But even Hubby noticed it wasn't as cool as it should be.
Now, neither of us is fond of heat. I went outside after Mass and planted my spare Bee Balm, and even with water, it was as droopy as I was. And the plants in front of the studio were not happy either.
Turns out our home A/C unit was freezing up and it apparently needs a recharge. As Hubby was sighing, "It's always something," I reminded him that when the old unit went out, it was the last week of July a few years ago, and it was about 102 degrees outside. It's 83 degrees outside tonight. They're coming out Tuesday to recharge the unit.
We'll be fine.
Oh, and the Yoga@The Fields on Saturday was GLORIOUS! I changed up where we were facing in the garden, so that the students had a beautiful bank of flowers and trees to look at, and we were shaded by the huge honey locust trees. The resident hawk wasn't around, but the breeze was pretty stiff, and the folks fixing the road had the day off (yay! no asphalt smells!), so we weren't disrupted by construction vehicles. I think this might be the year this class takes off. If Mother Nature continues to play nice.
Random Picture...
I'm really sad that we don't have a garden this year. For some reason, both Hubby and I are in some sort of inertia. I have one hanging basket. We did have a hummingbird at the feeder this afternoon, but it wasn't because our yard is full of color! While the wildflower garden is coming along, we've gone to more trouble in prior years. I don't know why, but between the crazy spring, rain/cold and lack of time to plan and plant? We're garden-less this year.
The raised beds are still there, but they're lying fallow this year. Maybe the garden needs this, and maybe we do, too.
Sometimes, rest is needed for growth. Sometimes it spurs imagination.
And maybe we'll just stick flowers in there next year. I don't know. It's too far ahead to think about.
For now, I'm going to finish that yarn-over row and get to bed. The morning will come pretty early!
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