Ah, hubris.

  You know when you start getting to think you might be pretty snappy?  Boy, does the universe take care of that.

I am ready to begin the cast off, the legendary cast off, and I have been challenged, so I am actually preparing for speed to be a factor.  Because this is such a good place to abandon care in favor of bragging rights.

Right.

Instead of marking the bobble points as instructed I just start.  The first bobble looks a bit wonky, but the second one pulls right together and I start to think I am pret-ty clever.  Except the when I try to make the final step of the bobble, it is in the wrong place.  I count cast off stitches, I count YOs... I do it again.  And again. And I realized that somewhere in that 211 of what turned out to be 215 rows, I goofed.  A lot.

It should have been YO K YO K3Tog, repeat, etc.  but somewhere I have switched the order.  Because I suck, and I was tired and in a hurry.  Each YO should be separated by either a single knit, or a k3tog, alternating.  The K3togs stack up and create a decorative line, at the tip of which there should occationally appear a bobble.

Do you see a decorative line?  Me neither.  The line through the k3tog on the bottom should run right through a similar k3tog above it.  But it doesn't, does it?  No, it runs through a YO.  Idiot.

And please explain to me how I placed the first few correctly, the next 10 or 15 wrong, and then somehow finished the other 3/4 of the row correctly.  I like to think if I'd done the whole row wrong, I'd have ripped, but I'm feeling pretty hostile about ripping right now, so I can't be sure.

Instead I am dropping down.  The last time I mentioned dropping down, I got several emails about the impossibility of visualizing/doing something like this.  To which I say rubbish. 

If I can do this, and many days not even keep my shoes tied properly, you can do this.   I will show you what I did and the world can be a better place for other people not doing the same stupid shit.  Everybody ready?

Each of the safety pins is through the two stitches in the K3tog and the left hand knit stitch that they SHOULD have been K3tog with.  I went across the whole shawl and marked every correct bobble at it's top stitch, and each incorrect sequence as illustrated above, until I ran out of pins.  Unfortunately I haven't run out of mistakes, so each one I fix releases a pin that goes to the end of the line. 

Then I got another circular needle of appropriate size and length and began slipping the shawl stitch by stitch on the new one.  Each time I find a boo-boo I do the following:

Slip the stitch above the YO to the right of the K3tog you need to change.

Drop the stitch above the K3tog, and ease it down the the point of error.  The arrow is pointing at the right hand most stitch in the decrease, which will become a single knit stitch between two YOs.

The arrow here is pointing at the loop (click for big) still in the two left hand stitches: ease it out and use a crochet hook to pick it up through the right hand stitch, all the way up.  Like this:

Now SLIP the next stitch. 

This will preserve the YO.

Drop the next stitch down - I didn't get a picture of this, but if you look up a picture or two, you will see you still have a safety pin holding three stitches together, so you can't go too far.

Put all three stitches into your crochet hook and remove  the pin.  Pick up the loop that just came out of the left most stitch and pull it through all three. 

Pick up to the top.

Repeat until your pattern is fixed.  I find a nice firm throw cushion is an invaluable work surface.  The really bright might want to use a table.

Now go forth and be smarter than I. 

Can you tell I have PMS?

Comments

[Kellee]

Good God, woman! I just had to put my sock down lest it see what I was reading and run away to live where the knitter quite obviously loves her knits more than the one in this house. Look at you all impressing the hell out of us and sewing dissension amongst our socks.

[Claire]

Wow. I read that, but I don't think I followed any of it. I read your blog and think, "Man, Juno knits some awesome stuff. I should learn how to knit." But good lord. I do NOT have the spatial skills for blocking and all of that! This shawl is going to be fantastic. You are a hero in my book. I'll stick with the basic crochet patterns.

Rock on my friend.

[cassandra]

Impressive! I would have left the mistakes in and of course hated the FO forever because of it. But yes, glad it was not just me who thought your procedure looked a lot like brain surgery!

[Lee Ann]

The hypothermia is making me cranky too. But I'm still impressed. You DID have a glass of wine while doing this, right? or at the very least, a shot of something fortifying?

Jesus, woman. Go get some chocolate or something. You're scaring me with your pillows and stuff.

This is, however, why I love you. You're scary but you rock nonetheless.

[Kim]

You are a more patient woman than I. I admire your tenacity!

[Ann]

YIKES! Looks like open-heart valve replacement surgery to me. Bonne chance with that!

[Kathy]

I dunno, that pattern save seems pretty damn smart to me.

[Laurie]

I'm tired just reading about it. This is so character-building. No wonder you are such a character. Ignore Rachel about the wine. And I think Stephanie may be right. But I haven't decided yet.

[Gale]

I'm with Rachel. Although I am not so sure I would have had the patience to bury the thing.

[Rachel H]

Don't listen to Stephanie; the hypothermia is making her cranky. Take a deep breath, get a nice big glass of wine, some soothing music and a comfy spot and know that you are impressing the hell out of us with your sticktoitiveness and repair technique. Me, I'd be heading out to the back yard with the shawl and a shovel at this point.

[margene]

I held my breath while reading the whole thing. You may be pissy but you rock.

[Carole]

Wow. That's complex. I'm tinking 18 rows of kiri because the center and edge stitches are off. The pattern in the middle is fine but there's just no way I think I could drop down the stitches and fix 'em the way you are doing. My hat's off to you.

[Colleen]

OMG! I wouldn't have the patience to fix it. I fix a lot, but I know that I couldn't do that. Great job!

[stephanie]

Sucker. This *SO* counts as part of your total cast off time.