Knit It Once, Knit It Twice

Knitting relaxes you. It's peaceful. The repetitive movement is meditative. Many studies show that it's an excellent way to relieve stress and reduce anxiety. And that is all true. Until it isn't.

The photo above is a nearly finished baby blanket. A blanket is a LOT of knitting. Even a baby-sized one. I started it just before last weekend's retreat. The simple pattern was the perfect choice for social knitting. And you can see in the picture that there are no glaring errors. In fact, I don't think I made a single wrong stitch. But somewhere about four inches into the blanket (that's about up to the first raised "stripe), I knew this wasn't right.

It really looked beautiful. And I wanted to be done. So I just kept going. Knitters are a very hopeful tribe. And I'm a card carrying member.  I figured it might miraculously adjust itself as I knitted. Or maybe when it was washed, it would all be better. (This is not wool. Nothing is going to change when it's washed.) But every time I picked it up to knit, I knew it was too stretchy. My stitches were too loose. I won't even mention that it was also coming out bigger than I wanted.

Last night with three-fourths of a blanket laying in my lap, I thought about it. I'm knitting this for a gift. I also thought about the beautiful sweater that I received as a door prize at the knitting retreat last week. That young knitter gave away some of her best work. Then I was honest and I accepted what I knew 20 inches ago. 20 knitting hours ago. I really didn't want to pull out a week's work, but I really didn't want to give a gift that wasn't worthy.

Then I did it. I tugged that needle out of the long row of stitches like you'd rip off a bandaid.  And I unraveled the entire blanket. Unraveling took much longer than ripping off a bandaid. So much for that "reduces stress" thing. 

But when it was done and the yarn was wound into balls and I started a new better blanket (I went down a needle size), I eased back into the "zone" where knitting is meditative and peaceful. Think of it this way. Because I'm making this blanket twice, I am getting twice as much relaxation. Mmm hmm. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

And here is blanket #2. You probably can't tell a speck of difference. But my hands can. That was my problem from the start. Blanket #1 looked perfect. But it didn't feel right. Next time I'll trust my hands. And I'll trust them sooner. I also might follow the very first line of instructions on the pattern, too—"first, make a swatch*." 

Remind me I said that when this happens again....

* A swatch is a small knitted sample that lets you check your yarn/needle combination to see if you achieve the desired result.