Gina's Afghan, Part 4
This week's chart is a bit shorter than usual but that's because I took time out to show you how to fix a missed cross. Also, we are now in the section where the charts get a bit wider, so should be printed in the landscape position on your printer.
Mistakes
The very easiest way to fix a mistake is to pretend you wanted it that way. Done. It's even faster done than said.
The next-easiest way, usually, to fix a mistake is to notice it, right away, and just undo your work by 2 or 3 stitches, fix the problem, and go on with your life.
However, mistakes can be hard to spot that quickly. This is especially true when you're working a pattern you don't know well, or are distracted, or any other of the many reasons you might make a right cross when you should have made a left one.
In some situations, the best thing to do is work to where you are directly above the mistake, drop the miss-crossed stitches down to the mistake, and then work back up.
In this case, you would have to redo all of the crosses to get to this error. Thinking about this made me want to cry. So, instead I'd like to offer one of my favorite ways of fixing even pretty major mistakes. I call it The Frankenstein.
Why would I name a technique after The Modern Prometheus? Why, because it requires daring, and allows you to become "fearless, and therefore powerful". Also, it involves cutting and stitching, to an extent.
You will need a way to snip yarn and a darning needle. I have some very sharp yarn snips (like these), but some people like fingernail clippers. If you are a nervous person, you may also like to have some dental floss as stitch insurance. You will also need a 12" length of the yarn you are using for the project. Some double-pointed needles, really as thin as you have, are helpful, too. I used stitch holders in my video, but only because I forgot to bring needles.
Thread your dental floss onto your darning needle. Find the row below your mistake. Run your dental floss through the stitches that are just below your mistake.
Repeat your flossing technique for the row directly above your mistake.
Locate the center-most stitch in your mistake. For a 2 x 2 cross, I like to pick whichever stitch is currently on top and toward the edge of the cross. This stitch is actually at the center, once you snip and uncross the cable. Take your snips and cut one thread from that stitch (you are cutting through half of the stitch).
Pick back at the yarn you have cut to open up the four stitches that were mis-crossed. Arrange the four stitches from the row below what you have picked back into the proper cross. Thread your darning needle with the same yarn as your project and graft the properly positioned bottom stitches to the stitches in the row above them. When you are finished, darn in your ends and remove your dental floss.
Please have a look at the video I made. You get to watch me make mistakes and get turned around, so it's all good fun.
Conversation
I reveal extreme ignorance more than once, and Hunter Hammersen sounds poised and smart. So, my work is done.
Also, Hunter has very kindly set up a great deal for those of you who read this blog. Buy three (or more) of Hunter's patterns and get 50% off your order. Just visit either www.ravelry.com/designers/hunter-hammersen or www.violentlydomestic.com, add three or more patterns to your cart, and check out using the code "Math4Knitters". The code will work from November 21, 2010, through December 5, 2010.
Links
Branching Out Scarf Pattern from Knitty
Hunter Hammersen's Blog, Violently Domestic (BEST TITLE EVER)
Direct Links to 4th Chart for Gina's Afghan and the Key
