I don't know how, when you are being very careful counting while knitting, you can still mess up lines of stitching! I am not a great pattern follower but I have been trying REALLY hard on this sweater for my granddaughter to get it right. So while I finished the front and back and sewed it together and began picking up the stitches along the sides for the sleeves, I was REALLY careful to pick up the correct number of stitches on the first sleeve. And it turned out great, it looks a little long, but it measures what the pattern says it should. So with confidence I began the second sleeve, picking up the stitches along the side.
Hmm... I could not get enough of the stitches picked up like the pattern said to, but I thought, that's okay it will be fine. I think I was also watching episodes of the British series, Father Brown while doing this. We borrowed a dvd copy of the series from the library. It was a new season and since we only had five days on the loan I got a little distracted watching several episodes in the evenings. Anyway after knitting ten rows, I realized this sleeve was way too narrow. I counted my stitches and oh my gosh there were ten less than I had on the first sleeve. I had no other choice but to rip out all ten rows and start again picking up the correct number of stitches this time.
I was doing well until, feeling cocky, I forgot to start decreasing immediately after picking up the stitches like I did on the other sleeve. Okay, I can make that up without ripping back this time, I only had a few rows done. Night after night I settled into my rocking chair, after supper and prayer time and began knitting and watching more episodes of Father Brown. I kept track of my decreases with my knit markers occasionally forgetting to put in a marker when I had decreased. Finally after several nights I was getting close to knitting the wrists. I held it up and folded the sweater in half so the two sleeves were laying against one another and one was longer. Well of course, I still had to knit the wrists. But wait, it wasn't the already finished one that was longer, it was the side I was still working on and still had an inch to go! NOOOOOOOOOO
Oh my word, how in the world did I knit too long??! Now, what... I was sure my granddaughter who is five and very worldly in her fashion sense would notice that one sleeve was too long. I could just hear her voice saying, "um, Grammy, this sleeve doesn't fit right?" And I am not the person to say, oh, honey your arms are just different sizes... What do I do?
Ugg, if I mark where I need to rip out it was two inches! If I ripped it out I really didn't think I was going to get 32 stitches back on a needle with several dropped stitches and holes. So I did the unthinkable. In fact, I didn't even know if it could be done. I had only done this technique once before with just two stitches. I tinked back two INCHES of knitting. Yup...I UNKNIT.
I don't know if that is a term in knitting or not but tinking does not describe what I had to do. This was totally UNKNITTING!!
But, it saved my sweater and in less than two hours I was able to begin again this time immediately beginning the wrist. I was never so relieved to be almost finished with a project.
But now looking at the body of the sweater I am concerned the body is too short, but I am going to sew up the sleeves and sides and have my granddaughter try it on first before figuring out how to add inches to the bottom. Me and following patterns...I am not sure about the next sweater
