[Nfb-krafters-korner] Want To Know Wednesday 2/7/18

Thu Feb 8 19:30:39 UTC 2018

Wow Amy, I'm glad you never gave up!

Cindy Zimmer, CVRCB
Client Services Counselor
NCBVI (Lincoln) 
4600 Valley Road, Suite 100
Lincoln, NE 68510
402.471.8123  Fax:  402.471.3009

-----Original Message-----
From: Nfb-krafters-korner [mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Amy Herstein via Nfb-krafters-korner
Sent: Thursday, February 8, 2018 9:39 AM
To: hList for blind crafters and artists <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Amy Herstein <maria830 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Want To Know Wednesday 2/7/18

Very definitely, I can think of a failed project I had to save. This one is from long ago when I first learned how to knit; I had more enthusiasm and ambition than sense, and though the enthusiasm has never died, the lack of sense fortunately did.

I decided to knit a baby afghan for a friend. It would be my first one, a chance to experiment with stitch patterns and maybe show off a little. The yarn I had for it was precious, very fluffy, light, and cushy, with plenty of loft. I cast on and went to work. I was trying out a pattern for a moss stitch diamond, enthralled with how easily I could transition from knits to purls. Oh, sure, I was doing great, no longer increasing stitches inadvertently during those switches. I was unstoppable! However, I started to realize that my pattern stitch was not showing up. What I know now but did not then was that although this yarn was cuddly and sweet, it had bad stitch definition. For anyone out there who does not work much with yarn, this quality isn't a bad thing, just a fact you must account for; it means you'd be wasting your efforts if you were to work a complicated pattern stitch with it because your handiwork doesn't show up well. Fuzzy, fluffy, and novelty yarns often, though not necessarily always, have less stitch definition than smooth, classic-style yarns, some more or less than others. That is why I undid my marvelous work and opted for a simple stitch pattern, just plain, unadorned knits, for the second go-around. I tried circular needles because I was already finding that straight needles tend to give me wrist cramps. I knitted about six inches; this wasn't going according to my plan, but this blanket would be just as warm and soft as I thought it would be.

Then, my whole project started going to the dogs. My beautiful yarn started fraying, then actually splitting. I fumbled and dropped a bunch of stitches, not just two or three but half the stitches on my needles. It was one of my first times working with circular needles, and I was not yet used to them and the wires that connect them. I somehow managed to tangle everything in a knot and twist my work, knitting in the wrong direction and ending up with a hiccup in the completed fabric. My awkwardness resulted in knots in the yarn itself, and trying to undo them probably brought on my splitting-yarn issues.
Tugging at the fabric as I tried to retrieve my fallen stitches caused me to jerk half the thing off the tips so my stitches tumbled past the point of no return. I could have cried, but it wouldn't have done me any good, so I resigned myself to frogging. When I ripped out my bumbled attempt, little hairs and fibers came away from the yarn. It was not drastic, but when I asked for my mother's opinion, she did tell me she thought that whole rather large amount of yarn, the stuff I'd ripped out, shouldn't be used again. Mom was and is an adept craftswoman; I trusted her opinion and was glad I asked her before casting on again.

The long and short of this was that I no longer had enough yarn to finish up a baby afghan. In hindsight, I don't really think I had enough to begin with. With a little luck, I could have produced a doll blanket, assuming fat needles and not too many stitches. (Did I mention I was still a rather green knitter?) Bummed out, I cut away all the used yarn, sadly stuffing it into the nearest trash can. Then, I cast on for a baby scarf. The stitch definition did allow me to use ribbing, and the smaller number of stitches let me go back to using straight needles. The unused yarn never split on me. The scarf was done, and my friend said it was cute, though at the time, I still wished I could have presented her with a full baby blanket.

By the way, I have since come to hate straight needles. They hurt my wrists, they jab people sitting next to you, and they never hold as many stitches as circulars do, important when you make larger items. I also can't use double-pointed ones without losing all my stitches. And the upshot of that baby scarf? Well, chalk that up to a beginner's foibles. I did learn not to underestimate the quantity of yarn you need for a project and to keep in mind the stitch pattern you mean to use, and though I have never heard of a baby scarf in my life since then, it's better to find a use for too-little yarn than to waste it.
Not a spectacular success but a salvage well made.

Amy

On 2/7/18, Nella Foster via Nfb-krafters-korner <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Happy Wednesday to all you crafters out there.  I hope this message 
> makes it to you; I've been having internet issues and never know if it 
> is really going to work.
>
>
>
> Today's question is from Cindy Z.
>
>
>
> Can you think of a craft project that failed but you were able to save 
> it by turning it into something else?
>
>
>
> I have a feeling the responses are going to be fun to read.
>
>
>
> Nella
>
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