Swearing at Lace

Great Gran had been working merrily along on her FBS, when she hit a snag on row 27. One half of the pattern kept coming out wrong. Which made NO sense because the row before row 27 (row 25) came out fine. She had unknit and reknit and backed up many rows before hitting the “I hate this, I will never knit anything but garter stitch scarves ever again for all of my life” point. We’ve all been there.

I brought it home with me because sometimes it helps to not hate the shawl that you are trying to fix (I haven’t touched my own FBS in two solid days). I figured out what was wrong (a missing YO – it’s always one stupid missing YO), fixed it and spent the next 45 minutes knitting one half of row 35 completely wrong. Over and over again I did it wrong in exactly the same way. Until I was at the “I hate this, I will never knit anything but garter stitch scarves ever again for all of my life” point. We’ve all been there.

crumpled FBS in basket

Stupid shawl. It’s lucky for you that you smell of grapely deliciousness.

Mom would like me to tell you that she now has 200 and something (I can’t remember exactly, I was busy crying about row 35) stitches on her FBS. She would like to point out that she is winning again. Nyah Nyah.

I have started my June sock. M has been sad that he hasn’t had any new socks lately, so June’s socks are for him. I let him pick the blue yarn.

sock cuff in gold and navy

Hill Country Yarns, Instant Gratification in “Scholar.”

So it’s not BLUEblue. It’s navy. And gold. And brown. That counts, right? I’ve already pulled out the leg three times trying to find a stitch pattern that I like with the yarn. Whee!

Lastly, when we were up in DC the other weekend, we went in one of the Stitch DC locations. There were two shells made up that I was interested in, but the Yarn Girl on Duty didn’t know what books they belonged to. I’m hoping that one of y’all does.

super cute collared tank
elaborate front panel tank

I am especially interested in the one on the left. I suspect that Jeager is somehow involved.

Update: The shell on the right is from Jaeger JB34. It’s the one called “Hazel.”
The shell on the left is from Jaeger JB39. I’m going to leave off the belt.
Thank you kind strangers! I am off to place a pattern order!

20 thoughts on “Swearing at Lace

  1. Leah

    It’s always the stupid YO!

    How can a girl that works in a yarn shop not know what book the sample is made from? How odd! Share the info when you find out, won’t you. I too am enamored of the one on the right. Lovely.

  2. Melissa

    This is why I’ve never tried lace.
    I love, love, love the Scholar yarn. These are the colors of my husband’s high school. If he actually cared about that kind of thing, I would have to get him some, but I doubt he’d be all warm and fuzzy about it.
    I love the shells, I’m loving the one on the right.

  3. Lisa

    I have to say I am not thrilled when I am working on my FBS, that is why it only has 3 and a bit repeats done!

    Good luck with yours.

  4. Traci

    Emily—The shell on the right is from Jaeger. I looked on the Knitting Garden web site. It is booklet 34 and the pattern is Hazel.

    Hope you get the FBS to behave. I am making CeCe and had to rip back 3 rows because I dropped a yo and forgot another.

    Happy Knitting!

    Traci

  5. kdk

    Yep. It’s always the YO. That’s why, during my last shawl, I ended up obsessive-compulsively counting the stitches after every pattern repeat (which, for that pattern, was every 12 stitches). It may have taken a lot of extra time, but I think it saved me a lot of time in the end, too. But you can do it. I know you can. And so can Great Gran. And then you’ll both have beautiful shawls that smell yummy, too. 🙂

  6. Carole

    I tend to make the same mistakes over and over again, too. Sometimes it’s just so hard to see the mistakes in lace. Good luck with row 35.

  7. Laura

    Ohhh that grapey smell saves many things… small children… shawls…. never realized how much they have in common! hehe

    The Hazel shell is just beautiful! Are you going to make it?

    Love the photo of you with your Amazing Lace team. 🙂

  8. The Darling Sister

    Ooooh, meme. Please oh please may I have the One on the Left in a Deep Deep Blue to match my wee eyes??? Heart u.

  9. KT

    That was such a heart felt yet pitiful plea from The Darling Sister. I have no idea what I would do if the plea were made to me…I am sure you will be casting on in Dark Dark Blue soon. And those YO’s are the Smart A*s Punks of the knitting world. Can you get a T-shirt for a YO? Herf!

  10. Becky / Knitting Interrupted

    First, LOVE the sockyarn for M. It’s gonna be wonderful!

    Now, about the FBS woes, Whenever you are knitting a front side row and realize you are missing a YO on that pattern 99% of the time if you just pick up a st from the back you can fake the yarn over without going back and tinking back and reknitting over and over. Just make sure when you fake the YO that you make sure all the “stitch relationships” are still lining up appropriately. Does that make sense?

    I can’t tell you how many YO’s I “faked” during my 3 FBS encounters Em. It was many. ANd you never could tell in the end.

  11. Esther

    The FBS was one project that just didn’t do it for me. It’s beautiful – love the ones Becky has made, but I just didn’t “click” with it for some reason..(GO GRANDMA!)

  12. Teyani

    The new little sock for M looks so perky and happy. Glad that you have it as a repreive from grape-lace.
    and those summer tops – be still my heart.

  13. Rachel

    I think it may be time for your mom’s FBS to have a little “accident” involving kitchen shears.

    Nice tops! I particularly like the one on the left.

  14. Diane

    Just wait until you get the Jaeger book. I have that one and just about every single pattern in it is wonderful.

    I’m making up Amelie, the green version.

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