I taught my friend, Jenn, to knit last month. I didn't really want to as I thought it would be very difficult. Jenn is, well, uh hard to describe but I thought she'd knit very, very tightly and it's always hard to teach people to loosen their death grips on the needles. I was in for a big surprise, however, because Jenn learned quickly and does not knit tightly at all. She's not very adventurous yet but she has finished a nice scarf and has started a second one.
Jenn was telling me that my knitting philsophy is very different from our friend, Jane's. Jane believes that mistakes in knitting give the piece character, make it "unique". I, on the other hand, examine every mistake to decide whether or not I can live with it. Most of the time I can't live with the mistake and I have to fix it.
This morning I finished the second repeat on the leg of my second Columbine Peak sock. I messed up somewhere and while I could "fix" it I knew it would never look right. In fact, I wasn't happy with much of the sock. Now I hate to frog. Really, really hate it but I ripped back all the way to the ribbing. Then I let the sock rest for the day while I worked on my Irish Hiking Scarf. I sat down tonight and the pattern just flowed. Everything just felt better and looks better. I'm just about done the second repeat now.
How do you feel about mistakes in your knitting? Do you think they add character or will it drive you crazy just knowing it's there?
I rarely leave a mistake....I'm way too much of a perfectionist, although I'm trying to loosen up a bit. Recently I found a dropped stitch in my lace Trellis Scarf. I found it when I was blocking the scarf and it had already unravelled down the side of a diamond - there was NO WAY I was going to frog it....I fixed it the best I could with a teeny crochet hook and tacked it back together. No one but me will ever know!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm with you. If there is a mistake that is GLARING, I just can't leave it. If a stitch just doesn't look right, I try to play around with it, and figure it will either come out right after being blocked, or no one else will be able to tell. Big pattern mess ups are definitely case for frogs (as much as I hate too, but I just can't live with that).
ReplyDeleteI like my knitting to be "correct" but if there are mistakes in the body where it is not seen I usually leave. I once heard that the Navajo leave a "mistake" or break in the pattern of their weaving to allow the spirit of the piece to escape. So I allow the spirit an escape route!
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time leaving mistakes. I would always look for it and whether or not it was glaring to me it would be. Now that said, the missing hat had one row where all of a sudden I had an extra stitch, why I am not sure, I k2tog and went on. I never could find it again so I figure it was okay.
ReplyDeleteJulie