Lace Surgery

A couple of months ago when I first got sick I was working on a surprise shawl for my mom. I haven't revealed the final design to any one outside of those who live in the house and I will continue to keep that to myself even now. What I want to talk about with this piece is the surgery I recently had to do on it. I put the piece away when it became clear that it wasn't going to be finished in time for her birthday, December 21. I put it away in mid-November so that I could finish other Christmas projects and because I was coming into an area that was, literally, uncharted.

When I came back to it earlier this month after the children returned to school I noticed that I suddenly had too much negative space in one area. I had also stopped in the middle of a row, in the middle of a pattern repeat and all. I was already out of it when I put it away. After that I had 2 ED visits that would have totally blown my goal, so putting it away for a while was a good decision and because I had made it earlier, much less depressing than it would have been if I had waited. Now I had to make another decision, could I live with this negative space?  As look across the picture you can see how the space gets larger as you go to the right.

I was still on the fence and going to ask my teenage daughter who also knits and my husband, he is very often the voice of reason for my projects. However, I didn't make it that far. One night after dance class I saw a post on IG from Ann Budd.  She dropped 60 rows of cabled knitting to fix a cable going the wrong direction.  That made my decision. If she dropped back 60 rows for a mis-twisted cable then I should fix this. Thank you Ann!

So the following Tuesday I dropped 12 stitches down 50 rows. That's 600 stitches total in lace work that is patterned on both sides. Worse case scenario, I have to rip and re-knit, 50 rows. Well a week and a half and 3 hours of work later, here it is.

I am pleased with this. The skill of being able to drop only a few stitches and rework them is an awesome one to have, but takes practice. The first time I tried this, it didn't work and I had to rip and re-knit. That is why you have to decide if it is worth it to you. I had to decide that on this go around because this was my first go at performing surgery on a piece that is patterned on both sides. I've done garter, plain, lace and color work but not on both sides. Below are pictures and the step by step walk through of how to do it.

First look at the piece and decide how far back you need to go. I used a double pointed needle (dpn), because it is small, to mark how far back I was going. I used dpns that are the same size as what I was knitting the piece with. Then I slid the needle through the stitches as best as I could tell so that the piece wouldn't ravel farther.

Then slip the stitches on your working needle to the other needle until you are at the stitches that you are going to drop. Drop those stitches as close to the dpn as you can get. At this point I used another dpn to rip that final row.

Here are my ripped rows and the dpn holding the stitches.

Even though this area of the piece is patterned on both sides, I decided to work all the stitches from the front, another advantage of a dpn. I found which row I was on and which stitch and started working from there. I'd work across the needle with another dpn, picking up the next thread. When I reached the end of the stitches, I picked up the next strand and worked onto the now empty dpn.

I always worked from left to right, because I am a lefty knitter, on every row. If you are going to work every row from the right side, then you will always work across the dpn from right to left. Similar to doing I-cord, but with a new strand each time.

Choosing which strand is next can be tricky. I always chose my next strand from the plain knit stitches on the right. Then I knew it was the next one. Choosing from the pattern stitches on the left I wasn't always sure, as sometimes they were twisted around each other, due to other stitch maneuvers.

Sometimes when you reach the end of the needle there is a lot of extra yarn left over.

I don't worry about this too much. It was the amount of yarn used before to make those stitches and will go back into place with blocking.

When you perform surgery like this, the stitches on the edge get pulled tight, they will take some of the yarn back. After a good blocking I haven't been able to find a "scar" in a piece on which I have performed surgery. 

You can see that the area here looks a bit sloppy, blocking covers a multitude of sins and this is no exception.

I'm a long ways from blocking but I will mark this section and take an after blocking photo and share it when I get there. My new goal for this shawl is Mother's Day. With my surgery and all coming I think that's realistic.

I want to include this picture of the chart just to show you what I am dealing with. Remember both right and wrong side rows are shown here.

I am still very much enjoying my 856 shawl to the point of distraction. I do think I may be getting a better handle on that though and switching up the projects I work on each day. One thing I did to curb myself a bit and force me to work on Archa, was to not download the new new chart for the next section. That gave me 2 nights working on Archa, which was a fruitful 16 Rows. The rows are getting longer though, just as the rounds on 856 are too.

I'm keeping up well on baby socks. I show my daughter each sock I finish, just to hear her say "Aw, I need to make some of those." Then I tell her "when you have finished the sock you're working on." She has been knitting the leg since Christmas...

My January baby blanket is going well. If I keep working at this pace it will be finished on the 31st and I have February all ready to go. Here is a picture of the yarn.

I also did some canning this week. Nothing spectacular, just some chicken broth, however I discovered a new, to me at least, trick. I cook the carcasses for the broth, let is cool slightly and then I put the broth in a 1 gallon pitcher. I place the pitcher in the fridge over night and all the fat rises to the top.  I remove the fat and then I can pour the broth into my jars.

 

Yes cold broth and cold but sterile jars. Lids on and into the cooker we go. It was because all the large lidded bowls were being used and the empty pitcher was on the counter and convenient.

Until next time keep stitching and stay warm or if you're in the southern hemisphere, stay cool and hydrated.