Wednesday, January 31

More snow and a dropped stitch

It hasn't stopped snowing for long since it started on Saturday night. Our official measurement taken last night with a yardstick is 13". See how much more snow is on this table since Monday's post? Hubby and I cleared the driveway at 10:30 pm last night when we got a break in the lake effect snow. I had on wool socks, a down-filled coat, and 2 pair of wool mittens. The only thing that got cold were my toes. I HAVE to knit myself a pair of heavy wool boot socks.

This morning, our outside thermometers disagreed reading 1 degree and -3. However you look at it, it's cold! It is partly sunny today which is helping melt the roads a bit. They've been snow packed and icy since Sunday. Unfortunately, more snow is predicted tonight, tomorrow, and as far out as the weather forecasts go. We're paying for all that nice weather we had in December and early January.

I've made some progress on the Mystery Pi shawl. I don't know if I will get Clue #3 done before the next clue goes up on Friday. 288 stitches in lace pattern takes awhile to get around. That's 36 repeats of a 9 stitch lace pattern. You don't get to rest on odd rows and just knit. You still have to count because there is one K2tog in the odd rows. I freaked last night when I found a dropped stitch about 12 rows back. How I dropped a stitch when I have stitch markers between every pattern repeat, I don't understand! I usually find any mistake when I knit the next row and correct it.

The Traveling Vine pattern is not one I'd care to attempt ripping only a few stitches out and reknitting. Though I have successfully used this trick on less complicated lace patterns. It's either rip back 12 rows and 3,456 stitches, or see if I can fix it. I'm afraid if I tinked that many rows, this might become a UFO.

Once I calmed down, I compared the dropped stitch section versus the section next to it. They look the same except for a loose stitch. So I threaded up a needle with a little of my project yarn and stitched that baby invisibly into place. All there is to mark the spot is a knot on the back and two yarn ends hanging down. I'll leave them there for now. Once I block the shawl, I'll weave the ends in and cut off the excess.

Yesterday, I ordered an extra ball of yarn for this project. The one I'm working with is shrinking fast and I still have the largest part of the shawl to knit. I hope it comes before I need to start ball #2. If the dyelot is different, I'll have to alternate knitting a row or two from each ball so they will blend in. Cross your fingers!

1 comment:

Joanne said...

Ohh, thank you for the snow fix! I'm hoping we'll get some in the next day or two. Temps were cold here too, down to 10 this AM, and inching up towards freezing. Perfect for a good snow. great knitting weather!