And then it knocks you down....by Mary Glendinning

In my last post, "The Perfect Vest" I was raving about a pattern I found to make for the Master Knitter Program Level 2.  I was so excited!  After going through what seemed like millions of patterns, I finally found the "perfect" pattern.  I loved this pattern so much that somehow I managed to miss the phrase "knit sideways" in the first sentence of the description.  My vest needs to have side seams to demonstrate my seaming ability so guess what - more vest pattern searches here I come!

Knitting is kind of like that though isn't it?  Just when we think we know something or the item we are knitting is going perfectly - something happens to put us back in check.  For example, I have been happily knitting a sweater for my daughter, Kaitlynn, called "Reindeer Games" from Knitters Magazine, Winter 2010 issue.

The pattern requires you to knit the sleeves first and put stitches on holders and then attach them to the body of the sweater later.  Finished the sleeves - no problem and on to the body.  Knit the ribbing on the first decorative edge and on to the legs of the reindeer.  I was humming along quite nicely - after all I had already knit this part of the pattern in the sleeves.  This is a snap - I know what I am doing...

Then after knitting  a few more rows I started to have that "feeling".  You know the one - you think there is something wrong with your knitting but surely if you  ignore it, the feeling will go away.  Knit a few more rows.  No more denying it -   the legs were going in the wrong direction.  That's right - the reindeer on the sleeves were moving from right to left and the reindeer on the body (300 + stitches, or a herd of reindeer) were running from left to right.  I had to knit back 6 rows of stranded knitting.  The reindeer are now running in the same direction.

This kind of thing happens to knitters all the time.  And the vest pattern?  Well, I was so happy to find something I actually liked I ignored an important part of the instructions!  Knitters bliss I guess.  Thankfully Karen has given me a few other options for vest patterns that I could use.  If anyone out that has a vest pattern, V, crew or U shaped neck, side seams and picked up stitches around the neck and/or arms - let me know.

Happy Knitting!
Regards,
Mary Glendinning
OPYF