Friday, October 23, 2009

Pooling Scarf Class

Last night I took a knitting class at the Red Purl. It was for the Pooling Watercolor Scarf (Ravelry Link). The class taught us how to find the color repeat on the yarn and to knit it into vertical stripes. It was quite interesting. I had a little bit of trouble though and after having to rip back several times, I finally set my project on the table, crossed my arms over my chest and said "That's it. I'm done. I quit." Everyone kind of laughed and Kallie's response was something like 'That's really being adult about it.' :o) Heidi, the instructor, helped me out though and got me past my little snit. I was really having trouble varying my gage; either tightening or loosening a few stitches in order to make the color changes line up.

When I got home, I thought that I had figured out what was going on, so I decided to do a little more knitting. Bad idea, as I was tired and the lighting wasn't that great. I almost threw my scarf across the room in frustration. I did 2 rows and realized I had messed up my count. I should have just put it away, but I wanted to get it fixed before I went to bed. So I ripped, then re-knit. Still wrong, but for a different mistake. Rip/re-knit. Still wrong. etc. After about 45 minutes (yes I said 45 not 4 to 5) I finally got it right and was able to actually proceed ahead. I have a whopping 3 repeats done!

I must admit that I took a page out of my fellow knitter Kelly L's book and called the scarf a few choice words. I think that scared it enough to finally start cooperating. Or it at least temporarily shocked it into submission. We'll see what happens when I next pick it up.

1 comment:

Jackie's Stitches said...

Congratulations on your perseverance!

I've learned to not knit when I'm overly tired. It ends badly!