See where I am with my cavern cardi? Well I was at this exact same spot (sort of ) last Friday night - only I had to frog about 14 rows and thousands of stitches because I made a poor decision on impulse. I'm sharing this tale of woe in the hopes that you learn from my mistake so that this won't happen to you. So here goes:
Last Friday night just minutes before the kiddos are tucked in their beds (sugar plums dancing and the whole bit) a passing lightening storm caused our power to go out. So I quickly give the "thunderstorms are not frightening but necessary to give the trees and animals a drink so that they can live happily in the woods" speech. After I glossed over the part where it also means mom can go another day without standing out in the heat to water our veggie/herb garden I ran to turn off my computer which was ever so conveniently open to a Ravelry link that I followed from a blog. Somehow - and this part is very hazy - I end up looking at cavern cardigan's knit by other ravelry members. Immediately I spotted this cute tee created by joining the cardi at the bottom of the neck opening and knitting in the round. Very smart mod, I thought to myself as I powered down my computer.
Right then, as I was about to grab my flashlight and make my way to my warm and cozy bed so that I could sleep on the impulse decision to transform my little jacket into a tee, the power came back on. The next five minutes, too, are hazy but I somehow ended up on the couch, knitting in hand, harebrained idea in head, and this netflix movie in the DVD player.
After a quick calculation to center the neck opening and a few stitch decreases, I proceeded to transform my cardi into a tee by knitting in the round for the next 2 1/2 hours. I neglected to consider that my nubby yarn wouldn't drape like the one on ravelry but would stand up in an unflattering tent shape or that I had not decreased nearly enough stitches so as to make the tee fit properly.
On Saturday morning I awoke knowing that frogging thousands of stitches was to occupy a portion of my day. So here I am - hours of frogging, picking up stitches and knitting later - at the same spot I had knitted to on Friday night. Only now it is the cardigan that it was intended to be - and I love it - and when it is completed I will wear it out in public.
I hope that you recall this tale the next time that you consider making a rash knitting decision late on a stormy night. But then again knitting, modifying, ripping, re-knitting - isn't that what it's all about?
More weekend modifications:
Several not-so-fresh bell peppers modified by roasting them in the oven. Peel and add olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. yum.
A long neglected flower bed modified into an herb garden.
And the addition of four noodles to the pool modified the manner in which the kiddos played and/or whacked one another on the head.
Hope you find something to modify (for the better) this Tuesday!
Well, at least you only had to rip out some rows. Saturday night I frogged a whole sweater. It took much longer than I thought, which is maybe I had been putting it off for the past 6 months.
Posted by: beki | June 16, 2009 at 04:34 PM
Oh, man. I hate frogging. But, for what it's worth, I love the sweater! It looks like the fit is going to be perfect on you! And thanks for the tip about the bell peppers. That'll be a good save for me when they start to go bad.
Posted by: Lisa Q | June 16, 2009 at 09:38 PM
I'll be frogging the top off one of my advent mittens soon. yikes!
the sweater looks great on you! you'll love it even more because of your mod save.
Posted by: kristyn | June 16, 2009 at 11:24 PM
Oh I hate frogging too! So sorry. Love your pool though :)
Posted by: Andrea | June 17, 2009 at 08:34 AM
Sorry about the frogging, but it looks like you are all enjoying the summer!
Posted by: mary | June 17, 2009 at 12:54 PM