23 January 2013

Dropped Stitches

I just picked up a dropped stitch on the sleeve of my Obsidian. It's the third dropped stitch I've encountered on this project... I'm finding them after 10 or 15 rounds have been knitted, too, so picking them up is hard because there's no slack where they once existed.
With this yarn (Wollmeise lace), picking up stitches is a finger wrenching, brain crunching task. The base is so splitty that the plies often get tangled and it's difficult to discern what goes where.

I think the most irritating part of a dropped stitch is that you have to pick it all the way back up to your current row. When I finish doing that, I don't get a sense of completion or finality-- it's just a bunch of work to get back to where I already am. No forward progress, no warm fuzzies.

Picking up dropped garter stitches is a different kind of torture, too. Normally, my trusty pink Boye crochet hook makes quick work of dropped stockinette, but garter requires removal and reinsertion of a hook, making it more trouble than using my spare DPN.

And perhaps I'm so irritated, not because I hate hate hate sleeves, but because I'm so close to being finished with this project that this kind of distraction seems like a mockery of my sanity. For what it's worth, I think my brain is wiped out tonight. I'll try for the home stretch tomorrow.

Good thing I'm getting close to done- we're back in the 70's here in the Lone Star state, meaning a good bit of my knit goods will be languishing for quite a few months again.

- YX

4 comments:

  1. I especially hate dropping stitches on tiny-gauge projects because they seem to unravel themselves so much faster than larger ones! Then you have so many more stitches to pick up... I usually run straight to the tiny crochet hook that I keep for beading, to fix them.

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    1. I agree! I probably picked up 30 rows each time. These sleeves know I hate them, and they're mocking me!

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  2. Ugh, dropped stitches are the worst! Especially on projects with very fine yarn, or, heaven forbid, lace projects. It's so hard to see them that they slip down a few rows before I even notice!

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    1. So true! And if it's yarn with a halo, it's insta-felt. I hate that!

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