Knit, knit, yarn over, slip slip knit, knit... oops!

While we were with my husband�s family last weekend, my daughter started a new knitting project. She has taken to making people hand-crafted Brumalia presents and didn�t want to give away any pre-unwrapping secrets, so she brought a ball of yarn and some circular needles in her purse and began this shawl:

I have had my eye on this pattern for some time and had bought a ball of yarn which I originally intended for socks when we were at that music festival in September, deciding instead that I would dedicate it to one of these instead.

The pattern calls for 4.5 mm. needles, but no gauge is specified, and the author even suggests that it can be knitted on any size for greater or lesser laciness. When we got home I whipped out my ball of yarn and some 4.5 mm. needles and began knitting, switching from straights to circular needles after several rows. I had completed about five inches when I realized something had gone terribly wrong. There were a couple of dropped stitches that had somehow eluded the needle on one of its passes. For those of you who have knitted lace, you know that one can�t just pick up the dropped stitch and knit it up as you would with a solid piece. I ended up frogging it back to the beginning and starting over, this time on 5 mm. needles, as I felt my tension was too tight on the others.

To make a long story short, I have knitted and ripped this garment at least a half-dozen times, either because of dropped stitches or because I made an irreparable error. It�s impossible to rip and put the stitches back on the needle, as I did with the sweater I just made, and it takes forever to unknit, so I just started over. Here is a photo from the progress I made before I last reduced it to its elemental yarn state:

It was actually bigger than shown and you�ll notice that I am back on straight needles, as I really do prefer them to their circular counterparts.

My husband has watched, amazed, as I frog and start over, most recently back on 4.5 mm. needles. I have noticed that the integrity of the yarn is now suffering from the constant wear, so I have devised a strategy. When I get to a certain point in the pattern (which repeats for as long as I have yarn), I thread a string through the row of purl stitches. This way, if I have to undo my hard work, there will be a place where I can pick them up again and resume knitting. If and when I finish this thing, I will post a picture.

In the meantime, wish me luck.

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