Before
After
It’s really hard to accept the fact that something you are knitting just isn’t working. You’ve dedicated hours to working on it. You had such a clear vision of how it was going to look and how you were going to wear it. But it just isn’t working, and it isn’t going to work, and instead of being stubborn and wasting more time on it, you rip it out.
This poor Allendale Tank didn’t really have a chance. The yarn is beautiful, the stitch is fun, but when I finished the top section it was kinda short, and it didn’t have the easy hang I was envisioning.
I tried the front bib section three times and had just gotten it right; but I put it on and it was bunchy and unflattering and just everything I didn’t want in a little knit tank.
My thoughts, all at the same time:
1. I’ll add a bottom panel of thicker ribbing to pull it down a little and add length!
2. I’ll add thicker top tie and straps to give it more coverage and detail!
3. I’ll add armhole edging so it can hang lower, giving it more length!
4. It’s never going to be what I want it to be.
Why did the 4th option win? Mainly because I knew I could do better. If I did all of those things would the sweater be wearable? Yes. And probably really cute! But if I started over with the knowledge of why this sweater failed I could build a better sweater from the get go, writing a better pattern from the start and ending with a smoother, more together design.
Just Do It
How to Pull Out Your Knitting Project Failure
1. Once you decide to do it, do it. Don’t let it sit around for days and wallow. The longer it sits there the harder it will be to pick it up and pull it out.
2. Pull up facebook, a blog you’ve been meaning to catch up on, a magazine. Distract yourself from what is about to go down. Put your brain on something other than all the work you are about to pull out.
3. Put your work behind you so you won’t watch the stitches coming out. Don’t just sit there watching every stitch. Make sure it’s in a position where you won’t get lots of knots or tangles, but make sure it’s out of your eyeline.
4. Ball as you pull. Read your magazine. Get into a happy place. Make a nice tight ball of yarn so you can use that yarn again.
5. Cast something on right away. It doesn’t have to be with that failure yarn or another version of that failure project, but cast something on so the last stitches you knit aren’t just sitting in a sad ball of failure yarn.
In a few days you won’t even remember the time you lost on that other project. Do I sound convincing? All I can think about right now is how I could have used that knitting time to knit the baby sweater I have to knit instead of that tank, and I would have a little baby sweater right now instead of just a ball of yarn if I would have started that project instead of the tank last weekend.
But I haven’t gotten to step 5 yet. See how important step 5 is to avoid knitting self loathing?
Casting on! I’m casting on right now!
