One Step Forward, One Step Back

For the past couple of years my friend Cindy and I have spent New Year’s Eve together bing watching Gray’s Anatomy and casting on sweaters for ourselves for the new year.

This year we both purchased Julie Asselin Nurtured from River City Yarns in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This yarn is an amazing blend of Rambouillet, Targhee, and Merino in stunning heathered tones. I chose Tisane, a reddish purply-pink; Cindy chose a dark gray.

After a lot of searching on Ravelry, we both decided to knit Kiki, a textured top-down cardigan by Julie Weisenberger, that uses Julie’s signature Cocoknits construction. (Be aware that you’ll need a copy of Julie’s Book Cocoknits Sweater Workshop in order to follow the instructions in the Kiki pattern.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of the cast-on day, I had made good progress on the back neck, shoulders, and fronts, and I was feeling pretty proud of myself. Unfortunately, I failed to notice a mis-placed column of knit stitches next to each of the back cables. I probably could have dropped down stitches and corrected them, but it would have meant dropping back ALL of the back stitches. I decided it was better to rip it all out and feast on a large slice of humble pie.

I happily knitted most of the upper body before I noticed that I had twisted two (2!) cables in the wrong direction, one of which was 60 rows back. Because only 12 stitches were affected, I chose to drop down those 60 rows and pick up the 12 stitches row by row, correcting the errant cable crosses along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I admit that I was feeling a little discouraged at this point. However, I ate more humble pie and soldiered on. I’m afraid that I ran into a couple other mishaps along the way that I didn’t bother photographing, but I’ve now finished the body and am delighted with the results.

It *should* be smooth sailing from here on, but I’m determined to stop and examine my stitches every couple of inches.

My your New Year’s projects give you fewer fits!