From the Drafts Folder: Lessons

I have finally reached the point in my knitting career where I can complete a project without Learning a Lesson. After graduating from knitting garter stitch rectangles of varying length, it seemed every project I cast on involved periods of alternatively banging my head against the wall and wanting to gnaw off my fingers until I fully understood the Lesson. A Lesson could be anything, whether it be how to purl correctly, the anatomy of a yarn-over, or what a twisted knit stitch looked like.

Here you see uneven ribbing and stripes that don't match, demonstrating Lessons about the difference of pulling the yarn from the center verses the outside of the ball and how the anatomy of the foot distorts the ribbing you totally thought was centered.

It is so satisfying to know after a year of Expanding My Horizons (i.e. knitting something other than garter stitch rectangles), my knitting skills have improved enough that I can actually craft a garment I am proud to wear or give as a gift.

This sock is supposed to have yarn-overs. The pattern depended on yarn-overs. Do you see yarn-overs? No, you don't. That's because they are butchered yarn-overs that are probably really a make-one-stitch. It still made a neat pattern, so I finished them anyways.

I also don't hand projects to my friends who knit and get "That looks neat! Did you mean for all these stitches to be twisted?"

Wait....what do you mean by this phrase "twisted stitches?" And what do you mean I'd have to tink the entire sweater to get rid of them?

Being a reasonably competent knitter doesn't mean I don't have a favorite swear word on Ravelry, though.