We are currently in the middle of the Secret of the Stole II knit a long and it occurred to me how many folks are at some point or another working backwards. Are you familiar with the terms in the title of this post? If you are, then you are well on your way to becoming an experienced knitter.
How many times have you come to the end of the row and realized that you don’t have enough stitches on the needle to complete the row? We all have. The question is, what do we do about it? Do we tink, un-knit one stitch at a time, or lurp, un-purl one stitch at a time, the row? Or, do we frog the entire row or even the entire project? Frogging is a term knitter’s use for “ripping” back a project to a certain point and knitting again. It is called Frogging because the yarn, when pulled out of the loops makes a “rib-bet” sound.
One thing I have noticed over the years, is that the knitters that get the most frustrated with having to fix an error in their knitting by using one of these methods are usually in a hurry, lacking confidence, or inexperienced. Let’s look at these three aspects.
- Rushing – To perform with great haste.
This is one big reason I think most knitters get frustrated with a project. If you are in a hurry to make something and something goes wrong, it will compound your anxiety level because now you HAVE to fix it. Result: Waste of time, frustration, another UFO, and perhaps a loathing for the pattern (or designer).Parallels to this can be drawn all across our lives. What about the cake you were baking for someone special and it didn’t rise, or sloped to one side? What about the line you waited in at the DMV only to find out that you did not bring the “correct” paperwork and you took your lunch hour to be there? These times can be frustrating, and being in a hurry can only compound the problem.I am not advocating laziness by any means, just more of a reality check on how much time a certain project will take and whether we want to realistically devote that much of our lives to it. If shawls, afghans, and stoles are too much of a time investment for you, then it might be wise to stick with scarves and socks.This will not and should not eliminate UFO’s. UFO’s are a wonderful cross section of our experiences over the years. Examples of our attempts at learning something new, trying out a new yarn, or at a minimum, representations of our good intentions. - Confidence – belief in yourself and your abilities.
Confidence and experience usually go hand in hand. It is difficult to believe in your ability to do something if you have never done it before. However, in knitting, as in life, working, un-working, and re-working a piece will give you experience which builds confidence. - Inexperience – Lack of the knowledge and understanding gained from experience.
I love this definition of inexperience. It creates a kind of loop that is self appreciating or self deprecating depending on how you choose to look at it. We cannot gain experience in our lives, regardless of the skill, unless we are willing to try, fail, and try again. I know this sounds like the beginning of a coach’s pep talk, but it really is true.When I began knitting, I was terrified to tink my work. I resorted to frogging entire projects because I didn’t think I would be able to locate and fix the problem by working backwards. In other words, I lacked the confidence in my knitting skills. The more I worked at knitting, the more I was able to actually “read” my knitted piece and tell if the stitches were not where they should be on the row I was working on. Now, when I have to tink, lurp, or frog, (which happens often) I don’t even think twice about it. It is still a pain in the derriere, but I have come to accept it as part of my learning about what I did wrong in the first place to create the error and it keeps me from doing it as much in the future. It still takes valuable time to work backwards, but, I have actually gotten very proficient at it.
I am not sure that being proficient at working backwards is something to actually aspire to, but it is a necessary part of knitting and if you do not ever do it, then you are either perfect or not really knitting. Have confidence in the knitting skills you have already mastered, attempt those you feel comfortable with, and every once in a while try something you think might be beyond your skill level with the attitude that working backwards will be part of the whole experience.
Fair Winds to all, DK
DeborahFillmer.com 
I always try to the minimum of frogging, I occasionally tink back a row, but if the error is a few rows down and very obvious I just drop the stitches above the problem and then knit them up again and hope that the tension will be sorted out in blocking. I am really bad and never insert lifelines, I know this is not the recommended way but it seems to work for me. Thanks for such a lovely shawl.
I am not a tinker, I’m a frogger. Right now, I’m on SOTSii, version 3. The first time I ended on a purl row, row 12 I believe. When I picked it up later, I purled again. Riiiippppp…… The second time I got to row 41 with 105 stitches instead of 107. Riiiippppp again! This time I used the lifelines and I count at the end of every row, just to be sure. I’m only on row 103, just a few clues behind, but eventually I’ll finish. Good thing I’m not in it just for the prizes 😉
too funny. I never caught on, until reading your post, that tink was knit backwards, and there was something called lurping!
i’ve been pretty fortunate with this KAL – i’ve had to tink a couple of times (which I now understand I was actually lurping, a phrase i will NOT be sharing with my 13-year old son).. and i think i’ve had to frog 2 or 4 rows a couple of times.
i have never done a life line – fingers crossed, knock on wood that i haven’t just totally jinxed myself!
so in addition to this wonderful pattern, i’ve learned that I lurp (which is vaguely weird for an old lady like me), and that tinking and lurping are 2 different things!
(but don’t tell my son, he’ll think it’s something completely different)
On this KAL, I had one particularly irritating little mistake — a misplaced yo, k2tog about 10 rows down. I would call my technique “frogging with attitude.” I stuck a size 0 sock needle in a group of about 10 stitches in the row before the error, and let ‘er rip! I got out sock needles and a small crochet hook and knit those few stitches back up, in pattern, in about 10 minutes, and happily saved hours and hours of reknitting.
I’ve ripped clue 4 back about 5 times. Luckily I have lifelines at the end of each clus. The first time I had just started a new ball and the splice didn’t hold as well as it should so I ripped it out about 4 rows, carefully re-did the splice and went on. At about the half way point, I was showing the WIP to several friends under bright quartz lights and we noticed that the new yarn, yes the troublesome splice, did not match the original yarn. So again I ripped it out. After another restart I couldn’t seem to get the stitch count to work out or I’d find dropped stitches or I’d try to fix something and make it worse, so it got pulled back to the lifeline several times. Needless to say, clue 5 isn’t finished yet.
This is probably the most that I have ever had to rip back a project in 30+ years of knitting.
my ‘best’ tinking/lurping was done last weekend. Bad week at work, and a good bottle of wine, and continuing knitting seemed like a good idea. After a while I couldn’t get the stitch count right…..so I fussed with it a bit, worked some stitches down and back again, and then gave up, tossed it in the corner and crawled off to bed.
saturday morning i was up bright and early, looked and looked and couldn’t work out what was wrong – so I did my penance, tinked back, lurped back and started knitting again. Magically, it was all correct. The only sad thing is, I still have absolutely no idea where the error was – I guess I just had to appease the great gods of knitting.
My first frog in this KAL was when I had done a dozen or so rows at the beginning and found my lace yarn had many knots so after some good advice I frogged the lot and rewound my entire cone of yarn into balls to make sure I did not have the problem again . I have since tinked back a few rows to fix a mistake due to my trying to rush and finish in time each week.. I now use a lifeline and would never again do lace without one.
I would love to blame my frogging on my six children. My youngest who just turned one on Monday loves my knitting projects and has a thing with my yarn and loves to suck and yank on my yarn. My next four up the line think when I am knitting it is like I am on the phone and can ask me anything, or mom I can count to 20 listen and then proceed to count for me. I on the other hand can only count to 3…5 if you are lucky. Then there is my oldest at 15 who is trying her hand at making socks and is getting frustrate with the counting, size of needle and yarn and having to start over a few times. I wanted to encourage her by telling her that it was part of knitting to rip out and to sometimes start over. She doesn’t remember how many times I had to start over on my first pair of socks 3 years ago. Then as fate would have it, I had to set the example. My rows on my first attempt at making a stole and knitting lace I was coming up with one stich too many. Yes I had a life line but my over confidence I knitted oh over 30 rows and didn’t move my line, so do I rip all the way back to my life line or row by row to see if it was just in the next row. After almost two days of ripping stich by stich and still being one stich more than I needed I recounted my chart. AAAAAAA my knitting wasn’t off…. my counting on my chart was off. So at a week and a half behind I plunged ahead. This past week my dd came down with her sock project and said, “I am going to start my socks again” Worth it? Yes!!! behind, yes I have 20 rows to finish and before I believe 6pm my time today.
I was clicking along pretty well on this KAL for awhile. I even finished the first clue before the first week was up. Then, I got to actually looking at the work itself. I don’t know how I did it, but there were several problems. I ended up frogging the whole thing, and starting over. The next time I was more careful to count and keep up with what I was doing, but I have still had to tink, lurp, and frog several lines since then. My challenge is a lapful of cats. They can really put a cramp in any kind of knitting, not to mention trying to draw a deep breath. My Himalayan who turns 18 this year just had to have one of her eyes sewn shut and has bad cataracts on the other, so she is essentially blind and suffering kitty dementia to an extent, so I can’t turn her away when she is in a lap sitting mood. Of course, seeing her in my lap makes the “little” (16+ lbs) boy cat think he needs to be there, too, so he nuzzles his way up, and all this cat activity makes the psycho cat think she needs to get in on the action. In the meantime, my Scottish Fold sits in the other recliner and watches all the jockeying for position. The most knitting I can do if everybody is arranged just right might be a hat or a dishcloth, but there is always a little cat hair knit into it for accent. We do have one bedroom that is a cat-free zone, so after a lengthy lap session, I will go in there to hide. I actually have to keep the TV sound low or they will stand at the door and scratch for attention. But in my moments of exile, I have been able to get enough done that I can see the behinds of the turtles in front of me, and may actually someday be able to catch up!
I try very hard to not to have to frog, especially with lace. Unfortunately, sometimes it is unavoidable. Other times, it is possible to just drop a few stitches down to the problem, which is what I had to do while working on this stole. It happened on Hint #4. I had worked about five rows before realizing that a yo was placed in the wrong place. I stitch over actually. I dropped three stitches down to where I made the mistake and reworked them to be correct. I think it looks much better even with a slight looseness of one of the stitches. It almost looks like a run. Hopefully, it will be able to lay out nicely with blocking.
Thankfully, no frogging has occured *knock on wood*, some tinking has, though. I always catch the mistakes to rows later and have to tink back. Wish I had caught the other mistake that quickly.
Anyway, I knit while watching tv so mistakes are inevitable. I started with using lifelines but haven’t used one since Hint #2. Again, *knocks on wood* for no mishaps.
Happy knitting. 🙂
Mari
I can’t tell you how many times I have knitted backwards on this project. I originally started in the thread I am using now and gave up. I then went to the yarn you recommended and was through with clue 3 and decided I didn’t like the way it looked. 12 days ago I decided to start again with my orginal yarn which is zephyr. I have never had so much trouble as I have with this. It is not the pattern as it really is a easy lace pattern. I am having serious back problems and have not been able to concentrate. I get tired very easily and everything gets to be a blur. When I am like that I should not try knitting. The last 2 days I was fine. I did get clue 3 and clue 4 done in 2 days. Hope to get caught up this weekend.
I go to the back surgeon on Thursday and see what he has to say. It looks like it will be more back surgery for me. Don’t know when it will be but hope to be done with this before then.
Thanks for the wonderful pattern and all the work you put into it.
Jan Carmichel
I am devout lifeline user and have been faithful throughout the KAL. But yesterday, on row 313, I noticed a misplaced K2Tog. And it was 4 rows below the lifeline.I could have ignored it, it passed the horseback test, but I just had to fix it and dropping down the stitches made it worse. So, a-frogging I went. Fortunately,my yarn is merino/mohair, so it does not run easily. I usually use 2 lifelines, but I got overconfident this time. I actually don’t mind frogging too much–there is a soothing rhythm to it.
I tink, or lurp as the case may be. I have done both in this KAL, usually because it takes two rows for me to find a mistake. Some mistakes I live with but stitch counts that are off have to be corrected. Often when I tink (or lurp) I make a further mistake. Sl1, k2 tog, psso are very hard for me to tink. One stitch always goes flying. But I have persevered because this stole is just lovely and the more I finish the nicer it gets. Thank you so much for a lovely pattern.
I Tink and Lurp, but never frog!!!!!. OMG I am the Tink queen and have a jogging suit to prove it. I got it in Dinsey World and it says TINK right on the front of it, so it is official. I have knitted for years but not lace and a few months ago my friend Yarnaholic Beth said she help a few of us with a lace shawl/scarf so we could learn.. I was afraid of charts so I was using the written version. I used colourmart cashmere and small needles and I kept messing up. I tried to TINK but kept dropping stitches and Beth would bail me out. She got so tired and I got soooo embarrassed asking her to help I put it away and said “Maybe someday”…. Well I saw your kal and thought I’d try again only this time with 7 needles and Knit Picks Gloss.
I am happy to report I can now see the stitches to Tink them and now understand how to TINK, and I HAVE FINISHED HINT FIVE. YEAH!!!!!!
The 7 days surrounding the release of Hint #2 and Hint #3 were referred to as “The Week that All Things Broke” in my house. About 20 rows into Hint #2, I realized that something was off. In trying to fix it, I had to tink the last 4 rows. Despite the setback, I felt pretty good about my tinking skills after this and kept knitting. When my yarn broke the next day, I spit-spliced it together (a first for me) and shrugged it off. I had know idea how many things would go screwy the rest of the week…our printer broke, our wireless router went a little crazy, our main shower head sprung a leak, some shingles blew off our roof, water from an upstairs shower began to pour through a window in our 1st floor playroom (This was discovered when my 2-year-old came running into the living room with her face covered in water giggling “I am trying to catch the drips!” This was very funny later, but really not funny at the time.), our washing machine squealed to a stop while washing of most of my shirts, and our answering machine decided to repeat the greeting over & over and stopped taking messages. Even through all of this, I finished Hint #2 and began Hint #3. Unfortunately, I had to frog the first few rows of #3 due to a dropped stitch. (Thank goodness for my lifeline at the end of Hint #2!) Finally, the week was over, and it has been smooth sailing ever since. Also, I learned that I am pretty good at tinking lace, how to spit-splice, and how useful lifelines are…not bad lessons to learn in a week!
I hate to frogg so I´m counting and looking very carefully when I´m knitting. I´m using lifelines. Sometimes I have to tink some stitches and often it´s because I have knitted a ssk instead of a s1k2togpsso.
Thank you for this fantastic journey. It´s my first lacepattern and without all help from you and all members I would never had dared to try. Now I practise english every day too, it´s perfect.
Thanks to this great pattern (the lines of yo, ssk) I am able to see my mistakes before I reach the end of a row, so this shawl has only seen a tiny bit of tinking. I do not frog rows and rows of laceweight yarn. When I notice a mistake in one of the motifs (thanks to you, little dropped yo), I drop down those stitches and rework them on smaller dpn’s. I was terrified the first time I attempted this, now it is just another trick up my sleeve!
Thanks to Lost, I had to tink back an entire purl row that I knitted straight across and did not even realize it until I turned my work and saw the line across my stole.
Whenever tinking, lurping and frogging get me down, my husband gently reminds me, “You love to knit! This is just giving you an opportunity to knit more!” Gotta love that attitude!
In the first 2 hints I had most of my frogging. Rushing to get ready before the next hint and curious to see how the chart will work out I didn’t count right and messed up the little figures. However… I don’t think anyone else would notice, but since I’m a perfectionist I ripped about 20 rows. In the later hints sometimes I made small mistakes which I mostly discovered the next knitting row. An extra yo: just drop it, stretch your knitting at all sides and it’s disappeared. A yo at a wrong place: tink a few stitches and use a crochet hook to repair. When I drop a stitch I squeeze my knitting to prevent tension to avoid the stitch to drop further down, than use the hook again. What I learned of this is to use good light and count very carefully.
Dear Mr. & Mrs. K-
The following is my experience with this knit along:
Hint 1- got almost to the end, and then realized that one side was wider than the other. Frogged the entire thing.
Hint 2- I spent more time unknitting than knitting (which is how I refer to tinking) more than I knitted.
Hint 3- tried to frog back to the lifeline and then decided to “never do that again”. I made more mistakes going back to the lifeline than if I just unknitted back!
Hint 4-This is where the knowledge finally kicked in. I was reading the chart the stitches below on every row I worked, and if I made mistakes I usually could fix them. I learned how to K2tog, and sl1psso, even if the mistakes, were a few rows back, and worse case scenario, I unknitted.
Hint 5- Smooth sailing:) A few tinks, a couple yo’s, but happy, happy, joy, joy after 4 weeks of running 40 rows or so behind, I have finally caught up>
Yours truly,
Team Ant Leader.
Dear Mr. & Mrs. K-
The following has been my experience during this knit along:
Hint 1- got almost to the end, and then realized that one side was wider than the other. Frogged the entire thing.
Hint 2- I spent more time unknitting than knitting (which is how I refer to tinking) more than I knitted.
Hint 3- tried to frog back to the lifeline and then decided to “never do that again”. I made more mistakes going back to the lifeline than if I just unknitted back!
Hint 4-This is where the knowledge finally kicked in. I was reading the chart the stitches below on every row I worked, and if I made mistakes I usually could fix them. I learned how to K2tog, and sl1psso, even if the mistakes, were a few rows back, and worse case scenario, I unknitted.
Hint 5- Smooth sailing:) A few tinks, a couple yo’s, but happy, happy, joy, joy after 4 weeks of running 40 rows or so behind, I have finally caught up.
Yours truly,
Team Ant Leader.
Well, I’d never heard of lurping, but that makes sense! I have done it all on SOTSII — and lots of it.
For me this project has been and continues to be an exercise in patience and humility. Always good lessons!
Let the froggers prevail! We WILL have beautiful stoles one day (in 2009??).
Mickey
I am now LOVING this lace weight knitting. At first I couldn’t get it down and my “work” ended up across the living room floor. But after a few (45+) rows of LABOR it actually became a thing of beauty. I “clicked”, as if in the zone, and it has been pretty smooth sailing (notice the nautical wordage) since. I have learned to tink, frog – but haven’t learned lurping yet (not really sure if I even want to tackle that one at all!!). Thank you for your pattern and the challenge to learn something new again.
I haven’t frogged, but I’ve tinked and lurped. It’s taught me to stop and look (love charts now) and count at every 1/2 on both sides – probably why I am going so slow!
This stole has been a wonderful experience for me. It has taught me I am still a novice at knitting – depending on what I’m knitting. I’ve been tempted to drop the stole, because I am just coming to the end of clue 2. However I WANT to finish it. I can’t wait to see the finished piece!
Joanne
I love the design of this shawl (even though i am still on clue 1!) I have been happily reading along, and seeing all the beautiful work everyone is doing. The reason i am still on clue 1? I have an almost 2year old daughter, so any fine. lace knitting must be done during nap time (a whole 1 hour a day!) I am also an inexperienced chart reader. Last KAL i used written directions. This time, I am determined to just use charts! This means I have to go painstakingly slow (literally 5 stitches at a time, mark them off, move on to the next five!) Luckily I purl relatively quick, so the backside rows get done much faster 😉
I am still learning to fix mistakes (i am almost a pro at tinking LOL) and frogging does not bother me when i need to do it. Lurping is a new term for me.. but I have probably been doing that too.
Thanks for the opportunity to learn new skills, and have a beautiful shawl to show off when I am done! (and i will finish this!)
I’ve done my fair share of lurping and tinking. I count on the purl row so when I find the “mistake” I must lurp back, then tink back until I come to the “problem” child. BUT it is all worth it!!! A beautiful design and a great finished product when I reach the end.
I am almost finished with Clue 1 for the third time. When I started this KAL, I was still working on SOTS, but laid it aside to start on thjis one. I finished he first 2 clues of this shawl, but when I pinned it out to take a progress photo, the center design was completely unrecognizable. In my excitemnt to see the shawl without any distractions, I had removed my lifelines. As a result, I frogged 2 clues. Then I decided to put this aide and finish the first SOTS. That onkly took about a week and then I restarted this one. About halfway through Clue 1 for the second time, I decided that I wanted a bigger guage, so the frog got busy again. I have 2 more rows to finish Clue 1 for the third time. I’m being extra careful about my lifelines and marking the center stitch this time.
Hope you have a good time in Vegas this weekend even if the weather is a bit wet!
The only time I would even consider frogging is if I had just started and wanted to start over. If I weren’t too lazy for lifelines, that would be another possibility. I have, however, been known to tink back multiple rows to fix something. Now that I am more confident with lace, I have figured out how to selectively tink a small section to get to a mistake. I tink back just a few stitches (usually not more than a half a dozen) but go back several rows (I’ve done as many as five or six rows). As long as I can keep the dropped strands in the right order, it isn’t too difficult to reknit just those few stitches. I often get the loops mounted with the wrong leg in front, but I can get them straightened out before going on to the next row.
I’ve frogged, lurped and tinked my way through this project so far, but I’m not even sure what to call my most “educational” experience so far.
I have truly learned the importance of swatching. You see, my original cast on was just a “wee” bit too tight!! (If I had swatched……but hindsight is usually 20/20!!) While stretching my stole, I broke the cast on edge. After leaving the mess to sit (I honestly couldn’t look at it without considering tears.) I carefully unraveled the cast on edge to get a row of live stitches. (This involved a darning needle, very good lighting and an extra needle a couple sizes smaller than my working needles.) I’ve put the live stitches on a spare piece of yarn, and I’m still considering how to cast them off while I keep working on the shawl.
I kind of hope my knitting fairy godmother comes by the house one night and fixes the beginning edge for me!!
Lurping is fabulous! It’s my new favorite word.
SOTSii is my first ever lace with laceweight project. That sounds pretty grandiose until I tell you that I’ve only been knitting about a year now, so really it’s just me jumping into something that may have been over my head…but have happily found out hat is very much not. (big kuddos to DK for that…)
Coming to knitting from crochet, anything to do with working backward has been absolutely terrifying. Approaching this project seemed to magnify that. I have resolved to work very slowly and deliberately. I only work on it when quiet is assured. No TV. No kids around. Dogs have gone out and are settled. Tea is to hand, as is a big glass of water and other general supplies. Granted I am only just starting CLue 3 now, but I’m pretty pleased to say I’ve only tinked/lurped back a few rows or stitches at a time. I’m catching my few mistakes fairly quickly…and have found that with lace, if I stare at things long enough I can most of the time figure out where I went wrong and remedy the problem, rearrange stitches, whatnot. Almost fell off my chair the first time that happened. Very cool.
Am living in fear of having to frog a large section, so I’m trying not to get cocky and work too quickly or mindlessly…there lies my certain doom.
Thanks DK for the fun and games and fabulous pattern. If you were closer I’d sit you down for a cheeseburger in paradise! (uh, but it’s very, very, veeeeery cold and snowy here now, so that best wait…)
Dawn in MN
This is my first lace project, and it’s been a real learning experience. I had always considered myself a fairly meticulous knitter, but I discovered that lace takes more attention than any other type of project I’ve ever done. I must have frogged the first 12 or so rows 4 times before I learned about lifelines. Lifelines have been my salvation. I’ve felt a bit silly putting a lifeline every other row, but it’s the only way I felt “safe.” I’ve come to think of it a bit like training wheels now. As I’ve progressed, the lifeline has helped me see my stitches better (white crochet cotton against brown yarn), and as a result I’m getting better at tinking. I’m also learning to read my work, and have been able to identify where I went astray so I know how far to go back. Also, I’ve found I’m making fewer and fewer mistakes. I’m almost finished with Clue 3 now, and I’ve gotten brave enough to put a lifeline every 4 rows instead of every other. I’m learning lace technique, I’m learning confidence, and I’m gaining the thing that nothing can substitute for — experience.
I had a music teacher who used to say, “Practice does NOT make perfect; there is no such thing as perfection for human beings. But practice DOES make better .. and better .. and better. Repetition, repetition, repetition — there is no substitute!”
Frogging, I feel happy if I get thru a hint with doing it more than twice. I had the whole hint # 1 done and found a mistake right in the middle. I frogged the whole thing, not one but three times and my lifelines didn’t even work until I tried your style of a lifeline and now I am working hint three and trucking along..
Okay you may have something with the inexperience, but I swear I count & cross off the chart as I complete the action and still mess up. I have started ripped and started again. I hope to get past hint 1. I’m not looking for perfection, I’m looking for completion of a stole the closely resembles the beautiful pattern you’ve created. Still don’t understand the lifeline thing but oh well I will make it even though I’m moving slower than a turtle.
Tinked, lurped, and frogged. I’m not very good with tinking, so would mess up the tinking and have to frog. Frogged to the bitter beginning and to multiples of lifelines. At times, spent more hours tinking than knitting. It’s a good thing there are words to describe this (though i didn’t know what lurping was. Very cute!) I’ve learned to not work on this project when I’m really tired or there are distractions. More than a few times I’ve woken up the next day, and discovered that the first knitting activity of the day will be tink, tink, tink, tink……
I had known that tinking was knitting backwards, but lurping is news to me! And, while I haven’t had to frog my SoSii stole (knock wood), I have had to tink and lurp several rows on more than one occasion.
For example, on Clue 1, I was working on row 45 at Knit’n’Nosh at my LYS, when I pulled my needle out of half a row of stitches. I picked up the stitches, thought I had it fixed, and went on to knit 2 more rows — only to realize that I hadn’t gotten it right. An attempt at fixing it in situ again failed and I had to tink and lurp back to row 43, carefully and deliberately knit the next several rows, and finally got it right.
Another experience with having to knit and lurp a couple of rows taught me to check each right side row before going on to the following wrong side row. If I find an easily fixed error (missed yo, ssk instead of k2tog), I will mark the location with a stitch marker and fix it on the way back. But if there is a mistake I’m not confident I can easily fix, I’ll tink back and reknit the row. Once I’ve checked the row, I mark it off on the chart with a highlighter, and go on to the wrong side row, which I will count before going on to the next right side row — to make sure that I haven’t missed a stitch or purled a stitch twice . . . .
Even this method is not fail safe. One of the other times I had to tink and lurp several rows was while knitting away in the wee hours of the morning (despite having consumed copious amounts of caffeine). Lesson 2: If I want to avoid tinking and lurping, I shouldn’t try to knit at 3 a.m., even after massive amounts of caffeine and even if I’m on a roll.
I’ve also learned to put in lifelines. Even if I don’t end up having to use them, the fact that they are there gives me confidence.
Despite these occasional tinks and lurps, I’m enjoying the KAL and look forward to my knitting time and to the finished stole I will have soon (although not as soon as I would like because I am in the ant/tortoise team).
Greetings- Well, Tinking + Lurping + Frogging = A work in progress & an always-learning experience for me. I’m not sure I’ve completely figured out how to tink on decreases, increases, & yarnovers, but I always attempt to do so instead of completely frogging a row. I have these tinking moments in almost every clue. Its my way of honoring the past, but not regretting the mistakes as they are there for a reason & teach me something along the way … that ‘perfection’ has many different definitions & views and I want to keep those ‘memories’ as i think they help me grow. I wouldn’t have noticed these ‘perfection’ moments without the wealth of knowledge & keen eyes that this knit-a-long include. Its a special project, my 1st knit-a-long & 1st attempt at a more challenging lace project. I really look forward to Fridays when the clues come out & I enjoy being present in every moment. Thanks DK, Mr. K, & all the lace knitters here for putting together such a wonderful collection of precious ‘moments’ in time. Being present – Aileen =)
I don’t even want to talk about it! 🙂
I have struggled with Hint 2, I’m on my 5th try to get it right. I can get about half way through it, then drop stitches all the way back to the lifeline at the end of Hint 1. I’m going to try again, as soon as life will allow me to pick it back up. This time I will run a lifeline about row 84, that way I might be able to get past where I mess up.
I must be tremendously experienced now because I have tinked, lurped and finally frogged this stole. My inattention caused the tinking and lurping as the pattern is not that difficult. It drives me nuts when I make careless mistakes. But I finally realized that my yarn just did not like this pattern so the stole has been frogged. I am going to restart it with a different yarn.
I have not had to frog (yet) on this project….oops, where is the wood to knock on for good luck. However, I have gained lots of experience tinking and lurping. I found that putting markers about every 20 to 25 stitches, depending on the look of the pattern, that I have saved myself over and over from having to redo a whole row.
I have frogged multiple rows 2 during my SOTSii…and hopefully only that many. The first time it about broke my heart because my lifeline was around 30 rows back…the second time was only 4 rows back. I have tinked more times than I care to think though!!!! I think I likely did clue 2 SEVERAL times overs. =) I’m having a BLAST though!!!!!!
For some reason Clue #2 just didn’t like me! Clue #1 went along great then I got to #2. I can’t seem to knit or count – but I finally redid parts of it enough times to get there – so now I’m way behind and working clue #3. Am enjoying the pattern though and learning how to better read my stitches to find the area of the problem so I can just reknit that part.
I’m slow, I know
Tinking, lurping and frogging I go
Life gets in the way
and there goes another Friday!
I have tinked and I have frogged this project! And I have also restarted-the 1st Clue 1 is still unfrogged and sitting it out. I just re-started on a new skein!
Shall I share ALL or just a couple of the errors of my ways?!
Aside from the occasional tinking that happens from rushing or being tired when I’m kniting, my major errors were:
1) Misinterpreting the instructions: the few lace items I’ve started (yeah, none are completed yet!), most seem to have started with written instructions, *then* as part of these written instructions, tell you to begin knitting from a chart. Well, I misinterpreted the instructions and thought Row 1 of the chart was the acutal Row 7 I was now on, so I reknit the 1st 6 rows with rows 2, 4 and 6 knit according to how the charted knitting should be knit (k5, purl to the last 5, k5). This resulted in an extra stockinette portion. The good think about KALs? I saw I wasn’t the only one who had done this! So I guess with this particular mistake, it was ‘overconfidence’, rushing to start, and just enough experience to be dangerous!
2) Clue 2: rushing. Yeah, rushing because I had now fallen behind due to having to re-start all of Clue 1 due to (error 1 above). So I get cocky and do the proper changes to the right side, but towards the end of the row, neglect to change up the recurring pattern that has now changed! This, I don’t notice until I am at row 73. Frogging happens-all the way back to Clue1!
And what about the clever tip my friend told me about where you put a lifeline into that little hole in your interchangable needle and knit the row, thereby placing your lifeline automatically? Well, I forgot that the lifeline is not supposed to go through the stitch marker! And well…I forgot that twice! Luckily, lifelines can be cut and re-tyed together.
I still sit at Clue 2, having lost the zest I once had because I feel so far behind that I don’t feel I’m up with the group and all is lost! But…I am going to get to Clue 3 this weekend because I am now feeling committed to it again!
I’m a relatively new lace knitter, so counting stitches as I’m working each row is a required activity (which accounts for the fact that I’m running a couple of clues behind the pack!). Even so, the ONE time that I really felt I was “getting the rhythm” of the pattern, I left out not one, but two YO’s. No frogging for me, I’d rather tink and hunt for the errors.
Well, I’m guessing that lurping is the equivalent of tinking, but for purl stitches instead of knit? Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ve done it – I’ve done everything but throw the KAL in the fire. (Fortunately we don’t have a fireplace in this house). I know – I’m learning patience. Also learned: Don’t knit when sick – if nothing else, you can lose stitches when you sneeze. Don’t set your work down for even a minute while the cats are around – in fact, sit on your ball so they don’t bite the thread in two, or three, or four . . . (It’s only been three times so far – maybe I’ll remember?) Don’t be in a hurry to tear out to fix something – set it aside and look at it later – it may be correct and you are reading/counting the pattern wrong. (Only four times for this one.) Don’t let your mother/MIL/aunt/best friend see what you are working on – you will probably lose it before it’s even finished. (Hooray! I remembered this one so far – but don’t ask me how many socks/shawls I’ve already lost. I don’t even take my knit socks with me when I travel now – I kept coming home with no socks.) Wish I could think of a positive “Do . . .” to add, but I think we all know the positives – the joy of producing a finished product, and the hours of enjoyment it provided. Oh yes, one DO – do relax enough to enjoy the knitting – I’ve never managed to keep up on a KAL, but have always finally finished.
I tink, I frog, I never learn. But I refuse to be discouraged! I’m on hint #4, giving myself a break. I have to keep telling myself that NOTHING will happen to me if I don’t get this stole done right away, but my knitting brain keeps saying, “You’re behind, you’re behind, you’re behind”. I don’t want to make (anymore) dumb mistakes, so I’m taking my time. No drinking while knitting, no talking while knitting, no breathing while knitting. It may take me a while. Would somebody please bring the oxygen?
I have tinked, lurped and frogged MANY times!! Since I got so tired of 1 step forward 2 steps back I learned a couple of things. I check frequently throughout the row that my stitches are lining up with the row below on the chart. That way I don’t get to the end of the row and discover there’s an error back at the beginning!
I also am much braver about fixing mistakes without tinking. I drop stitches, fix the problem and then carry the stitches back up. I’ll create a missed yarnover by picking up the bar on the next row.
This makes lace knitting so much more fun!
Lessons learned:
The lifeline is your friend. Such that you should marry it and give it a gift of a new run every 4 or 6 rows.
Tinking isn’t so bad. It beats frogging. It is your ‘other woman’ that the lifeline is jealous of.
🙂
I finished SOTSII Clue 3 LAST weekend and started on Clue 4. Then my life got more complicated so I haven’t made more progress. Throughout my time knitting I have done all of them, tinking, lurping and frogging. I must admit that I usually only use the tinking and frogging terms. Since to be un-knitting is un-knitting whatever stitch it had been knit or purl. I have used lifelines and sometimes discovered that I should have put another one in before I went onto the next few rows. Especially with the lace patterns it is often hard to decipher exactly what you did in that stitch in that row before. Did you accidently drop a stitch and where did it go? Not so easy to tell when you are doing yarn overs and decreases. I am getting to be more of an “expert” on undoing my projects than perhaps actually doing them!
I have been having a problem with remembering to knit the last five stitches on the purl row. Especially on Clue 4. I’ve never heard of lurping before…but that is what I have been doing, without much success. I’m not sure why I am having such a problem with this. I usually catch it when I am going down the following row, so I have to lurp back. I find that I have gone brain-dead, and can hardly wait until by brain wakes up and I stop making this mistake. Before clue 4 I used markers at the 5 stitch spot, but with the increases on each row I quit using them..
bummer…maybe I should just repeat a mantra through the whole purl row!!!
Linda
My husband is a fearless ripper and will easily pull out inches of knitting. I prefer to drop down and use a hook to knit back up. But with lace, I am challenged. It has made me really examine my stitches, the structure, so I can really fix those mistakes. I am using lifelines at every clue but doing well so far. I count an awful lot. The tricky part is if you drop a yo from the row two below. It always has to twist.
I’ m really enjoying this stole, but I wish I wouldn’t make so many mistakes!
At least I’m now familiar enough with the pattern to read the knitting and recognize errors beofre I’ve gone very far. I usually just tink back the problem section and try to redo it. Sometimes I’ end up with a worse mess and end up taking out the enire rows, but usually it works. I’ve just started Hint#3.
Depending on the proect sometimes I just wing it, but not with your lace stoles! The first one I un-knit A LOT! SO far with this one I really have been doing very weell… only in the first clue did I frog eight rows then tinked to get back on track! I am closing in on finishing clue 3! Can’t wait to keep moving right along on the rest of these wonderful clues!
I am the Queen of Frog(ging). I know how to knit (60 + years), I can pick-up stitches who wandered off my needles. Not my fault, but this particular pattern will not behave. HAHA!!. I keep dropping stitches. I have rip-it and frog-it to the point where I had to toss several yards of yarn. Boy, does that hurt, but it made my daughter laugh. She also learn several new words (not repeatable ones).
This weekend I took a class in reading and writing charts at Stitches 2008. Now why does these 3 hours passed so fast and the material made sense? No idea, but yesterday, I re-started my SOTSii and voila, hint number 1 is done. No problems, no dropping stitches and with only 2 lifelines. I saw one of the teacher last night and showed my work and she was quite please that her teaching paid off. Now, I know better, but I thought that I could knit the first clue without putting a lifeline. Nope. Put 2 of them and hint #1 is done.
Pat on the back to me, I am so very proud of myself.. LOL , so the moral of this is one work: Lifeline.
So to all the froggies out there, there is hope, keep at it.
Hi, I’m a tinker/lurper by heart and because of my choice of yarn (can’t frog the yarn I’ve picked because it tangles too much) but in the meantime I’ve got quite used to it. I’ve seldom have to undo more than a row, therefore I don’t use lifelines.
The more the stole grows, the less I have to undo, because I get used to the pattern more and more – it almost belongs to the family 😉
Clue 6 is done, finished it 1 1/2 hours ago and looking forward to the next clues.