Perfectionist Tendencies

When I posted “To Rip or not to Rip” I already had it in my head that I’d probably fix it.  I actually kind of liked the way it looked with the two different sides, but it was one of those things where I wondered if it  might bother me later.  Besides, I tend to look on these sorts of things as a challenge.  That coupled with just a wee tendency towards being a perfectionist made the fix impossible to resist.  There have been knitting situations in the past where I have let things go, based mostly on the amount of work involved to fix it.  Sometimes you have to balance the severity of the problem and ask yourself if it affects fit or drives you absolutely insane and weigh the amount of time involved to fix it.  Whether you are a “process” knitter or “product” knitter may also factor into the equation.  Had the mistake been in the other shoulder and required me to rip out both shoulders (would have to do this since it’s saddle construction) I’m sure I would have lived with it because I am pretty much a product knitter…and I am so ready to be able to wear this sweater!  Since it was the just finished saddle that was involved,  the task didn’t seem nearly as daunting being worked over only 16 or so stitches.  Fixes like this would give some people heart palpitations (my sister, for example) but it really isn’t bad especially if you’re working with “grabby” yarn.

First I ripped back until to just where the cable section was and replaced all the stitches on the needles.

Then, I took the offending section of stitches off the needle.

Next, I undid each row until I was at the row where I should have crossed the stitches.

Then I crossed the stitches in that row, using the last row of unraveled yarn and continued to work each row after that crossing where necessary.

Finally, I reworked the saddle until I was back where I started.  Voila!  Matching cables and a very happy knitter.

My happiness was short-lived.  Unfortunately the sweater still looks just like this.  Remember how I mentioned I was out of yarn but there was more on order?  Well, normally when I order from this distributor I get the yarn just a couple of days later.  When I ordered with about 10 days left until closing ceremonies I thought I had plenty of time to get the yarn, figure out my collar mod (since I’m not doing the hood), finish my socks and cast everything off in time to collect my second medal.  Wrong.  In fact, I still don’t have the yarn .  So much for the Knitting Olympics,  Once I realized there was no way I was going to get the yarn in time my mojo kind of left and the socks stalled as well.  Plus, I was in Arizona that whole time enjoying beautiful weather so indoor activities were put on the back burner in favor of lots of hiking and yoga (more on that tomorrow).