Dear Knitters,
Can you please share with me your most awful knitting blunders? I recently picked up a shawl that I was 3/4 through knitting. It uses a chart, and I must have been watching TV too closely because I read the chart backward, and now I have to tear out. Lace.
Please share your worst (or the worst of a friend, even!) so I don't feel like such a buffoon.
Sincerely,
Jane, Perhaps the Worst Chart Reader Ever to Roam the Earth
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I was mostly through a cardigan when I tried it on, to find it was significantly larger than reasonable on me. I ripped it back, restarted the shoulders, then put it in a 4 year time out to think about what it's done.
Posted by: Deb K | January 31, 2023 at 02:04 PM
On Sunday I was knitting a shawl and knit three stitches at the beginning of a row instead of 4. 290 stitches later, I realized my mistake, and picked out 287 stiches so I could knit the fourth stitch. In lace.
I think it's a tie.
Posted by: Kate | January 31, 2023 at 02:14 PM
I read a chart backwards for one of my first lace projects but decided no one but me would notice that the decreases were leaning in the wrong direction. Otherwise it would have gone in the trash - I'll tink a few stitches of lace in KidSilkHaze but not an entire lace scarf (no matter how small).
Just last week I decided I could shift the pattern so the motifs were offset instead of stacked rather than frog 8 rows of 450 stitches each - I'd started on row 9 for the second repeat of the chart.
And even without a chart I've decided that knitting and drinking wine while visiting with family don't mix! I had to frog and tink about 25% of a shawl TWICE when I realized my ability to count had gone missing.
You are not alone.
Posted by: Cheryl | January 31, 2023 at 02:35 PM
Not really a blunder but an embarrassing situation. I made a roughly 36" square baby blanket following an Elizabeth Zimmerman design that turns the square via short rows. It was an ingenious design and I loved knitting it but it involved kitchnering the provisionally cast-on stitches to the ending live stitches, and there were what felt like a gazillion stitches. First I joined it too tight, then too loose. I finally got it just right but somehow got a loop in the sewing thread and couldn't get it evened out, and there wasn't enough to cut and weave it. So I fudged it and wove the loop into the stitches. Looked fine to me. The embarrassing part: the parents used the blanket for the newborn's photo, and there was the loop waving in all its glory right above the baby's head. ๐
Posted by: MarthaO | January 31, 2023 at 05:41 PM
On my second sweater with bust darts, I put them on the back of the sweater. It was also a cardigan. ๐
Posted by: Amy | January 31, 2023 at 08:23 PM
Knit an entire sweater without checking gauge first.
No, it did not fit.
Posted by: Rebecca | February 01, 2023 at 08:15 AM
I made a fingerless mitts wit a pattern on the back of the hand and then followed the same directions and had a pair of left hand mitts. Didnโt even notice until the end๐
Posted by: Anne | February 01, 2023 at 09:42 AM
My problem is that I have numerous WIP that I did not put the pattern with or even left a yarn label so that I know what I was knitting and where I was out. I have had to frog more than one WIP. I try not to do that anymore.
Posted by: Natalie | February 01, 2023 at 10:27 AM
I was knitting a sock. I turned the heel perfectly. Forgot to knit the heel flap. Rookie mistake but I had probably knit 100 pair of socks at this point.
Posted by: Gia | February 01, 2023 at 11:00 AM
I was making a pair of fair isle mittens, got most of the way through the first mitten, decided it was going to be too long, got frustrated and put it in time out. For TEN YEARS! Then one day last year I decided to try finishing it, and did so in less than an hour. After a ten-year hiatus! Started and completed the second mitt in about a week.
Posted by: Carrie | February 01, 2023 at 08:25 PM
I'm working on a shawl with a lace pattern and have had to go back about three times before getting to a point where it was correct.
Posted by: Leah | February 03, 2023 at 10:39 AM
So am working on a simple so I thought small like size 2 vest for a little boy red fir valentine's day because he was born feb 14, 2022 but I have had to to frog it at least 4 times and now am combining 2cpatterns fingers crossed time is running out and I am watching my gr grand kids till next week. Plus I have ripped out a sweater completely liked the pattern but not the yarn. Still sitting in my basket
Posted by: Ruth Swarthout | February 03, 2023 at 03:10 PM
When I first started knitting I didn't really "get" what swatching was all about. I was just too excited to start making stuff. So after a few knitted gifts went out the door and I found out that nothing fit the recipients, I got sad first, and then I learned all about making a swatch. Lol!
Posted by: Ashley Mattes | February 06, 2023 at 03:52 PM