Cursed

I'm so frustrated right now. I've been trying to finish a vest that I started a year and a half ago. The pattern is cute and is suppose to be easy. It started off great. I knitted the front, the back, seamed the shoulders, picked up stitches for ribbing on the v-neck and was almost finished with that when I noticed a little hole at each shoulder. Wanting to know what I had done wrong so I could fix it or, at least, not make the same mistake on the next one, I asked some sweater knitters at a yarn shop for advice. They told me not to worry about it and to just make a little stitch on the inside to close up each of the two little holes. Not satisfied, because I really wanted to learn how to do it right, I set out to fix it myself. I ended up making it worse...a lot worse. I put it in time-out!

The next time I worked on it, I ripped out the ribbing, part of the back and one shoulder, knitted back up, seamed the shoulder back and started working on the v-neck ribbing again. This time, the ribbing at the bottom of the "V" wasn't working out. I tinked back trying to fix it when part of the front started raveling out near the "V" and made a big hole. It was ravelling out where I had added new yarn to knit that side but failed to tie it off to prevent this kind of problem. I learned my lesson on that but I had no idea how to fix it other than ripping AGAIN! Ugh! Frustrated, I put it in time-out, again.

Now, as I'm trying to get it back to the point of seaming the shoulder again so I can do the ribbing, it's so messed up that I don't even know what to do. It seems like I may have made a mistake on the armhole of the other side. Plus, it's turning out too long before I decrease to the 18 stitches I'm suppose to have. Does all of this sound confusing? That's probably because I'm really confused at this point.

I could just rip the front out again, down to the "V" and try one more time. I'm just afraid that I could do all that only to have problems with the ribbing again. Maybe this project is just cursed or not meant to be and the best thing to do is to rip it all out, wind the yarn into balls, and choose another project. I feel like crying! I really wanted this vest!

To rip or not to rip...that is the question. What should I do?

Knotty Knitting

A few months ago I started THIS vest. It was going along just fine until I started working on the neckline ribbing. I became frustrated and confused and put the whole project into time out!

I decided to pull it out this week and finish it. I tried to get some help with the problems I was having. Which, now, I realize weren't that bad...maybe I should have just left those two little holes...as I was advised by one talented knitter. But, no, I had to try and fix them. From there, everything started to spiral downward very quickly. As I tried to fix problems, new ones appeared. Each problem was worse than the last. Eventually, it was so bad that I considered ripping out the entire vest! Ugh!

I took another deep breath and kept trying to fix the mess I had created. The problems went from things like this...


To..."Oh NO! I was pulling out the wrong yarn!!"...


How did this happen? The yarn went through itself!...


There was no turning back. I had to forge ahead and try to save it...


The problem fixing progressed from trying to fix holes to deconstructing it back to just a front and back, un-seaming the shoulders. The first shoulder went badly but this one was actually working! Hey! I pulled the right yarn this time!...


Whew! The front and back were separated. One shoulder bind off was saved. The other was not...


But...it's on a stitch holder awaiting surgery...


Then, I was on to the back. Three strands of yarn?!! Huh??...




I got it figured out. I even had to take out the bound off sides for the shoulders and rip back a few rows. Now it's on a circular needle waiting for surgery...


I'm sure glad I had my trusty little tool to help me through this disaster! It has a hook on one side and a needle on the other. Very handy!


This project is back in time out! I have spent so many hours working on this over the past few days and I've just gone backwards. I'm going to stay away from it for a few days, at least. I'm hoping that I'll have better luck when I go back to it...if I go back to it. I'm still feeling a bit frustrated with it right now.


I never would have imagined that this could happen. I understand what I'm suppose to do. It seems like it should be easy. It's just a matter of picking up stitches and knitting a 2x2 ribbing. Maybe my knitting mojo is on vacation. I wonder when it will come home?

Vest Progress

I haven't done much knitting over the past few weeks. But, I have squeezed in a row or two here and there. Enough to get my vest to this point...


I finished the front yesterday and got the shoulder seams sewn together...thank's to a great video on YouTube. I haven't tied off the ends from sewing it though because I'm not sure yet how I should do that...time for more YouTube research.

Each shoulder seam has a little jog in it because of how the pattern had me bind them off. I followed the directions for sewing them and I think I did it right...but...being the perfectionist that I am, I'm not sure if the slight little wave/jog at each of those points is ok. Here they are...what do you think? I'd love advice from some of you pro sweater knitters out there. :-)


I'm thinking I need to re-stitch them a little looser too.


As usual, Duchess was there for support yesterday. She almost always lays next to me when I knit. She'd actually like to lay on my lap but that can add a whole new challenge to knitting. lol


It's weird how different the color of this yarn can be from picture to picture. The color is actually somewhere in between what it looks like on the close ups and how it looks in the picture next to Duchess.

Thanks for stopping by and for any advice you may be able to share. :-)

Side One

Here it is...side one of my vest...


This is the back side and I'm about to start on the front. It should have been done faster because it really does knit up quickly...much more so than I had imagined. I've just been busy with other things and haven't devoted much time to it.

I had set out to make this garment as a lead up to bigger and better things...like sweaters. I had hoped I would learn a couple things from it. I'm actually learning a lot more than I had expected. It's very exciting. I'm sure I have a lot more learning ahead as I knit the "V" in the front, sew it together, and add the ribbed edging on the arm holes and neck. I'm still crossing my fingers though that it will fit, look good, and that I'll love it.