This is what happens when you start feeling confident of the pattern, certain that you will finish a project in time and so good about yourself that you stop counting stitches.

ARGH

It’s either ladder back through eight or so rounds or pull out eight or so rounds of a couple hundred stitches each. I laddered. Here’s how to do it.

You’ll need two double pointed needles and nerves of steel. This is much much MUCH worse with a complicated lace pattern, but it still makes me want to vomit.

Sort your stitches out to isolate the chunk that needs fixing. Mark the mistake threading one double pointed through the ‘bad’ stitches, picking them up to secure them. Leave the good stitches on the main needles to either side of the contaminated ones. Let the isolated group leave the needle and then gently unravel (so you don’t mess up the tension of the surrounding stitches) those stitches row by row to meet the DPN.

I had to take out a big chunk because the YOs advance on a slope.

If you are smart (I wasn’t, I was panicked), put needle stoppers on the ends of the needles holding the ‘good’ stitches to prevent those from getting away from you.

Sort out the stitches on the DPN so that they slope the right way and carefully reknit each of the rows one at a time.

I find it easier to hold the ‘working’ yarn in my left hand and pick up the stitches through the loops so I can see what I’m doing.

If you get the stitches on the needle so they slope backwards (like I was doing above – panicked again), just be sure to turn them around before you continue with the next row. Persevere until everything is all sorted out and back where it belongs.

I have a couple rough spots, but they should smooth out with blocking.

Sigh with relief, reward yourself with chocolate and knit carefully for the rest of your project.