That thing

You know that thing where you rip some piece of knitting back, and you wrap the yarn you have to re-use around the ball –

and then you start re-knitting, and keep knitting, and keep knitting and you’re waiting for that moment.  That moment when you’re all done knitting the old yarn that you knit before, because pulling fresh yarn from the middle of ball and knitting virgin yarn means that you’ve recovered from whatever knitting error set you back in the first place.   You know that thing?

I love it.

(PS. I’m re-knitting the Color Affection//Affliction/Infection with a yarn over between the first and second stitches, dropping it on the way back to give it a little ease along the edge.  It’s working great.)

154 thoughts on “That thing

  1. You know that thing where you’re having a knitting problem and you go online and some very clever knitter has just written a blog post where she tells you how she made it work?
    I love it when that happens.

  2. O M G. Get out of my head! I so know that feeling. I thought it was me being silly. I think like the Harlot, be still my heart!

  3. I am loving this shawl and i think the bug has hit me through the wonders of the internet and your pictures lol It looks so simple, and yet so easy on the eyes! Gotta love it, now only to pick the colors lol :S

  4. Stephanie and fellow members of the Blog,
    Have you guys seen the new pattern over at Knitty? It’s a “bigger on the inside” shawl! I just HAD to tell somebody.
    Laura

  5. I just did that thing last week!
    And that is a super clever tip, the yarn-over thing. I’ll have to remember that when I finally get around to knitting MY Color Affection.

  6. Thank you for answering a long-time nagging question: whether to pull yarn from the outside or inside.

  7. Ah yes, I’ve had that moment a few times today. I’m hoping I don’t have to experience it again today. ;0)

  8. I, too, love that feeling…I’m hoping to get there with my socks that I had to completely frog (too small – I never swatch).
    I’ll get there eventually 🙂

  9. I had that moment just last night at knit night …and I too am now infected with the color infection virus. Geez. I already have three things on the needles. And a schedule, with deadlines. What to do? Stay home from work, I say.

  10. Yep. Just got back to that point on my sock. I love it.
    Also, have been fantasizing about that shawl since you first posted. Maybe the virus is regional (Pacific NW) thing??? I’m thinking dusty rose / med grey or charcoal / crimson. Or maybe…dang, I’ve got the fever.

  11. Don’t feel badly. Several of us in the affliction group had to do just that. Every one that reads this – do try that YO trick. It was what finally worked for me. Yea! Josie! We love you!

  12. Oh yeah. I’m knitting a center-out baby blanket and had that experience in the space of four consecutive LONG rows. Pain, pain.
    I love that shawl. I want to start it. I have too many UFOs that really need to be FOs. I want to start it.

  13. I suspect it’s a universal yarny thing.
    Your Color Affection is looking great – I love those two colors together. Can’t wait to see the third.

  14. I love that! I never realized that feeling was so common! It’s great how knitters are alike in so many ways.

  15. I LOVE THAT THING! Yeah, it’s a wonderful moment. 🙂 Less wonderful are those times when you’ve had to rip out so much, you just re-wind the ball on your ballwinder. I did that twice last week. I reknit a hat 5 times. I am insane now.

  16. Yep, that yarnover technique is the one silvermim recommended. Works great. I wish it could be added to the pattern notes on Ravelry. A lot of beginners are knitting this pattern and may not know about this technique.

  17. Figured I should fill this comment space below myself, in case lightning should strike me. Wouldn’t want anyone else getting hurt.

  18. Yes, I DO know that feeling when you get back to where you were before the ripping began! I experienced it recently on my Vodka Lemonade currently in progress. And thanks for the tip on the Color Affliction (er, Affection). It’s been ‘on my list’ for weeks now. I’ll keep that yo in mind when I make mine.

  19. I love your colors! That shawl has been on my favorites list since it came out. I have a few other things to finish first though.

  20. Yes I know that feeling too. That is a nice shawl but it looks like endless stockinette stitch and I don’t have the fortitude for that now. I am going to try the Wingspan instead….

  21. I think it’s such a great moment because when that last kinky bit of previously worked yarn is gone, it’s like the mistake never happened.

  22. Oh yes, I love it when that happens!
    Love your CA too. I did the YO as the very first stitch (dropping the very last).
    Bet you can’t only knit just one…

  23. I certainly do know that feeling. 🙂 I’m in the middle right now of trying to get to the “new yarn” from a ball I had started making something or other from. I’ll think of you when I get there. 🙂

  24. I so know that thing. I also know ripping back colour affection, but mine was because the colours were wrong. I long to try it again, but I have other projects to wrap up first (because babies keep growing and sweaters don’t).

  25. I’d been eying that shawl for awhile now anyway, and now that the pattern is for sale, I’m pretty sure I’m a goner. What yarn are you using? The colors are gorgeous!

  26. Presbytera, are you as funny in person as you are in blog comments? Because you’ve got me snorting out my nose here….!

  27. Behold the power of the Blog — top 2 patterns on Ravelry are the two shawls mentioned today. Stephanie – I’m glad that you use your powers for good instead of evil!!
    ps – bought the colour affection pattern last night – I have NO self control….

  28. So, are you officially experimenting to see how Ravelry’s pattern hits spike after you mention something? I haven’t checked this one yet, but Baby Venus was at the top of the “what Ravelers are looking at today” list when you blogged about it.

  29. What a great trick! I wish I’d done that on my Daybreak shawl as the edges are a bit tight. I’m really anxious to design my own with a similar construction, so I’ll definitely remember this! Thanks. Your color choices are amazing, by the way.

  30. Woman, I hit that magic moment just after noontime today. That magnificent whoosh of relaxation in the hands. Ayup, this old Vermonter is right with you. Rock on, Harlot, rock on.

  31. Stephanie, one of the things I love about you is your ability to put words to those quiet, subconscious trials and triumphs that we all can relate to.
    Thet blue yarn shore is purty.

  32. @Laura in San Diego- my daughter has already put in an order for the “bigger on the inside” shawl, and I went stash crawling for it. So cute!

  33. Whenever I hit that moment in reknitting the yarn, I always wish there was a similar way to know in life exactly when you had completed backing up, retracing your steps and making things right. Wouldn’t it be great if there was some tangible signal that you’d gotten yourself back on track again? Oh wait- knitting is life…nevermind.

  34. Best. Feeling. Ever.
    I’m knitting a lace shrug right now and I keep forgetting YOs so I have to rip back every 3-4 rows. So I’m experiencing that feeling a LOT lately!

  35. I know that feeling. I experienced it many times the other night trying to knit Gin & Tonic Hat in poor lighting, while watching a show, and talking. Finally got past the problems and now have a really cute spring hat – in Calmer.
    Ravelry: Gin & Tonic Hat pattern by knittedblissJC

  36. Thanks for the tip about the yarn over. I bought the pattern last night after reading your blog and I purchased yarn (twice in different yarns and color ways) today on a yarn crawl. Now, do I start one of the shawls, finish one of the 3 shawls on needles, or finish one of the bags on needles? Is this a case of startitis?

  37. Please do tell the name of the yarn. It looks like it would feel nice between the fingers.

  38. I have LOTS of those moments when you have to go back to go forward and then…WOOOOHOOOO you made it all good again. I know “that thing” all too well. I do it every time I knit..(or spin, or weave or cook or…)

  39. A few weeks ago, I was knowing that thing so much that I decided that it was swatches so I started a new ball. That felt very good, too.
    Beautiful yarn.

  40. Oh that is going to be very pretty!
    Thanks for that tip about the YO between first and second stitch – that will help with a shawl I’ve got coming up.
    I’m resisting this till after the middle of June. Must. Resist.

  41. Do I ever know it! It’s even more joyful when you come to the end of knitting the second sock from the first one because you ran out of yarn early and the toes must match. Worse yet, making double soles…

  42. Well…I just started my second Color Infection shawl. After all, I had all this yarn sitting next to me, just waiting, and you all had such neat color combos…one wasn’t enough. Had to play with more colors too.

  43. I cannot *wait* to start Color Affliction/Infection. I haven’t bought the pattern yet – that’s what is keeping me in check.
    Same goes for Bigger on the Inside – I’ve not bought the yarn yet. I’m keeping my clicky finger in check.

  44. That literally made me laugh out loud! I was reading like, “yeah, yeah YEAH” and then I got to the bottom to “i love it” and just busted out laughing. Probably because I just got to feel that feeling yesterday 🙂

  45. Maybe the designer used a different kind of selfedge then usual without mentioning it? Selfedges can be from very tight to very stretchy, depending which one you use, more so with garter stitch then with tricot. About your tweet needing much sleep being inconvenient: you recharge your camera, laptop, phone, Ipod – yeah I know, sooo ancient already – whatever, if you have been exhausting your batteries before sockcamp it will take longer to recharge them fully, that goes for humans too, you know, especcially after you have turned 40 or more.

  46. I should start binding off tomorrow night. I did the yarn over too – how great is it to read helpful tips on Ravelry?

  47. I know that thing sooo well! Ha! Finger on the knitting pulse as always! Shawl looks gorgeous btw.

  48. I so love reading your blog and finding that others feel the same way I do!! I absolutely do that same thing, await the new yarn. What a relief when you get to it.
    Thanks for that tip with the yo – I’ll remember that when I cast on.
    By the way, I blame and thank you for my new spinning addiction. Thanks :o)

  49. Thanks for the tip on that shawl! I have the yarn and will start soon. It seems like everyone is knitting it! You chose great colors, btw…
    Sara

  50. You know, it’s never a feeling I ever thought about or really put together as a feeling, but now that you’ve mentioned it….Yeah I have totally felt that feeling.

  51. Yes, I DO know that thing! Currently in the waiting impatiently phase of that thing with a ball of Koigu and a beaded scarf. And let me just say that I have a looooonnnnnnggggggg way to go due to some prior massive indecisiveness on my part!!

  52. I *just* hit that point on one my husband’s ginormous socks this morning. I’d had to frog the whole thing due to “I see holes, that’s suspiciously like lace” (not really, but…). They will now have giant-foot-sized trilobites on them, which is evidently A Cool Thing regardless of the age of the boy involved.

  53. I love that thing and have just hit it for the third time with a toe-up sock I’m knitting for a mystery sock… I wonder how many more times I’ll get to experience “that thing” before I actually have a sock? Thanks Stephanie, for putting into words exactly what I’m dealing with!

  54. I know that thing all too well. When you thought is said to decrease at the end of every row, not at each end. When you dropped a stich and didn’t notice because you were knitting during a hockey game and it was going to be too tight to just chain it up.

  55. I totally know that thing. Although, I swear it takes longer to get to that spot the second time around.
    Also, I love the suggestion of the disappearing yarnover for ease along the edge. I’ll keep that in mind for the future.

  56. I’m ripping back a Fair Isle beret because the journey is so short…I figure what the heck? It keeps me from spending $ on more yarn…which might be a good thing now that I think about it. At least for the LYS.

  57. I just ordered my ball winder from KnitPicks and can hardly wait for the thing to come! I want to make all my yarn center pull cakes!!!!
    I hate frogging!

  58. Yep, that’s it alrighty–that wonderful THING. Never had a name for it before–thanks.

  59. Since it seems I have to restart almost everything the first time I try it, I do indeed know that thing.
    Then there was the child’s sweater with the intarsia tractor – let’s just say the yarn was as glad to be finished with me as I was to be finished with it… all 4 colors!

  60. Man, I wish I had of known about that YO trick before I knit mine! Mine is all tight and bunchy at that top but I’m afraid that if I rip it out I will never reknit it. very sad.

  61. Yup. Definitely know that thing. I also know the joy of putting something aside and saying, I’ll work on this other thing instead.
    Eventually one of those things works, and I love it when a project comes together. The 5 started projects in the meantime… not so much.

  62. Boy do I know that thing…just lived it again yesterday 🙂
    Those colors are gorgeous, and that yarnover trick has helped me out a few times before too. Works great when decreasing for armholes too!

  63. I just thought/did the exact same thing last night, only my frogging was on a sock that was too small and wasn’t quite my style. I’m ALMOST to the new yarn. Glad I’m not the only one. 😉

  64. Yes, I know that moment well. I was trying to explain it to a non-knitter and got a blank stare. The prayer shawl I am working for a friend with breast cancer has an 8 row repeat. I do believe that I have ripped and tinked as much as I have knitted forward…. Double the prayers in every stitch.

  65. If I could count the number of times I’ve done that … I’d probably also be smart enough not to have screwed up my knitting so many times!

  66. Yup, know it well. In fact, I’m working towards that point right now on a sweater sleeve. Can’t wait!

  67. I love that moment too! Thank you for reminding me…now I think I have the fortitude to do some ripping I’ve been putting off!

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  69. I usually wrap the yarn I ripped into a little center pull ball that I then stuff into the “main” center pull ball. That way I still get a center pull ball and I can bask in the illusion that the ripping NEVER HAPPENED….

  70. I know exactly what you mean! It’s like time stands still and the knitting does really “count” until you get to that point.

  71. It’s definitely a great feeling! Knitting the already used yarn feels like making up time, rather than legitimate fun knitting.

  72. Oh, yeah, baby. I love that thing. And I love this shawl! I’ve been dreaming of color combinations as I work on my 2nd Forest Path Stole. (Even halfway through the 2nd I’m still not tired of this pattern.)

  73. Oh, yes, that thing when you’re finally back to the “good” yarn again…ahhhhhhhh…

  74. I am still in the part with yarn wrapped around the ball. I told myself I have knit more than I ripped because I decided to alternate balls after I ripped so that means I have to go twice as far before I get to the “new” yarn. That philosophy is mostly working, at least for the moment.

  75. You know that thing where you’re having a knitting problem and you go online and some very clever knitter has just written a blog post where she tells you how she made it work?

  76. I love that feeling too – especially on a project that you are enjoying so much you never want it to end!
    Love the colors by the way, very fresh!

  77. Oh I know that thing so very well…. and I love that moment when you realize you’ve just achieved balance and gotten back to where you had ripped from 😀

  78. Wow. I can’t believe you (and others) know about That Thing, too! I know that feeling all too well…

  79. I am also experiencing ‘that thing’ with a shawl I am working on! Got to about 230 stitches across and realized I had done it all wrong, ripped out about 75 rows and started again 🙁 Almost at the point of pulling fresh yarn 🙂

  80. What gets me is when I get through the wrapped-up yarn and tug on the next length…only to have a huge wad of yarn come out of the center of the ball, which then needs to be wound around it again.
    Sure, it’s still ‘new yarn’ at that point…but it just doesn’t feel the same!

  81. I love that moment so much. This is one of those things that only knitters understand. I’ve tried to explain it to non-knitters, and they just don’t get it.

  82. Know that thing SO well…after ripping back 4″ on the sweater I’m working on, it was a real happy-dance moment when the last of the “used” yarn was worked up!
    Almost 2″ past that point now. Life is good.

  83. Thanks!! I purchased the yarn for Color Affection and then after seeing one in a shop with its tight edges curled in, decided to forget that project. Now I’m going to start on it today. Happy Saturday here!!

  84. Am sitting in the hospital, having a bad broken leg and feeling out of control until I read your new book. You have been a lifesaver, Stephanie!

  85. Is it just me or is anyone else having a problem gettin’ this thang goin’?
    any help is appreciated Luvsknittin on Rav

  86. You know that thing where you have 4 projects on the needles and then you see this very inspiring blog post that talks about a very pretty pattern that you have just the right yarn for, and you just *have* to buy the pattern and cast on your fifth project immediateley?
    You hurt me so good, Harlot!

  87. This made me smile. I always felt like I was being silly, but would be so happy when I got to pull out new yarn!!!

  88. This made me smile. I always felt like I was being silly, but would be so happy when I got to pull out new yarn!!!

  89. I quite adore this shawl… but my stalking of ravelry makes me ask: will there be interminable ends to be woven in? Because, knowing myself as I do, that may be a deal-breaker…

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