Lessons (Re)Learned

Two weeks after casting on, I'm still ripping knitting away at Liesl. Given how much time I've spent on it, I should have finished it a week or more ago, but I broke a couple of cardinal knitting rules (read: made stupid mistakes) along the way and have had to do the penance.

First, I fancied myself better than the humble gauge swatch. Now I know just how important swatching is, but I figured that the lace pattern would be stretchy and forgiving. So why bother? Well, nine or so inches in, I realized that there was no way that it ever would button in the front. So, I ripped out what turned out to be the biggest swatch of my knitting career. (That's exactly why bother.)

Not to be disheartened, I went up a needle size, started again, and was feeling rather smug about the whole thing. The gauge was spot on, and it was flying off the needles. Then, halfway down the body, I reached end of a row and had three stitches left over.

When I went back and read the lace, I realized that I had royally messed up two repeats (eight rows) back. Because I was too smug or too lazy, I didn't bother to place markers after each repeat. I had a heck of a time running a lifeline above the mistake, and long story short, it was ultimately easier (and probably faster) to rip the whole darn thing out and start fresh.

So, I started once again with the correct needles and placed stitch markers between each and every repeat. I will finish this sweater yet! I'm finally halfway through the first sleeve and am optimistic that the third time's going to be the charm. With any luck, I'll have a finished sweater to share soon.