A knitting fix!

I've recently started knitted hippy type scarf.  I saw one in Ian Snow in Machynlleth when I was there a few weeks ago.  I couldn't bring myself to buy one as I knew I could make my own.

I knew there was just the right yarn in my stash, Noro Sekku.  This ball of Sekku has been floating around for years, I bought 2 balls whilst away in Devon with a knitty friend.  I knitted up the other one as a present for my mum, there's a post about it way back in my blog, but after finishing that scarf I vowed never to use Noro again.  It's so difficult to knit with as it's so twisted, I'm forever dangling it over the side of the chair to untangle it, the slightest pull on a knot and it breaks, it drives me crazy.  Someone told me once that's it overspun but I don't know if that's true or not.  Don't get me wrong, I love everything else about Noro, I love the colours, I love the texture, I even love the little bits of twig you can often find in it, I just hate the fact that it twists on itself so much.

Anyway, I decided not to buy the scarf in Ian Snow and save myself a few pennies.  I couldn't find a pattern on Ravelry so I made it up as I went along.  I know I don't need a pattern for this, I just wanted to know how many stitches to cast on.

I cast on 350sts on 3.25mm circular needles, they're the smallest I have in interchangeable but I probably would've used smaller needles if I'd had them, I joined in the round and started to knit.  I've loved knitting with it this time round, it's easy, mindless knitting for a warm summers day.  I've even managed to read a bit of Jane Eyre whilst knitting but more on that another time.

I love simple knitting, I love simple patterns, not just because they're easy to do but because I love they way they look, I absolutely love garter stitch. 

I knitted until I thought it was wide enough and cast off.  Forgetting how much the edges roll up.  I love how knitted edges roll but I don't love it quite that much.

So here I am, armed with a crochet hook, picking up all those stiches that I missed when I unpicked the cast off edge, out of 350sts there were quite a few I'd missed!

I love fixing my knitting, for some knitters it's their worst nightmare and they'd rather undo it and start again, I love working out where it's all gone wrong and challenging myself to fix it.  A couple of years back I knitted a Christmas pudding jumper and discovered I'd read the pattern wrong, the ribbing on the front and back bottom edges were totally different lengths. 😱😱😱

I worked out how to fix it with the help of YouTube, seriously everything you need to know about life is on there, I use it all the time for my knitting, computer programs, everything, yesterday I learned how to make a dreadlock out of wool!!  So I ended up picking up the cast on edge of the shortest side of the Christmas jumper and knit downwards until both sides were the same length.  I couldn't believe that it worked.  It took a couple of hours but it took far less time than it would if I'd have knitted the back of an adult jumper.

So my advice to any knitter is that if you think you've made a mistake then stop, take a step back and work out if there's a way to fix it.  Google and YouTube may have the answer.