In process

Margene says "it's the process."  I agree, but my process lately seems to involve messing something up and figuring out how to fix it more than just knitting the thing.  Take the Stitch n Bitch Nation project Hurry Up Spring Armwarmers.  I really like the pattern, this will be my first pair of mittens, and the Noro Kureyon is nice to work with.  I started these last week, got twenty rows into the chart, realised I'd messed it up, and ripped it back to the cuff.  Got ten rows in, found I'd made the same mistake, and ripped it back again.  Got twelve rows in, thought I'd made the same mistake yet again, ripped it back and the yarn snapped in protest.  I can't really blame it.  What's galling is I was just fine the third time through.  I tried my first spit-splice join, and it worked well after snipping out the over-stressed chunk of green yarn.

From just this project I've learned how to join 100% wool yarns, how to read a chart, and how many times you can reasonably expect to rip Kureyon if you knit with my obnoxious tension.  It's not just this project.  My hemp socks underwent surgery when I found out I'd cast off too tight to get them on my foot.  Undo the cast off, rip back, join a new strand, switch to larger needles, increase one in every four stitches, cast off really loosely (for me), and I wore them this weekend.  Lovely warm socks and you can't see the fix unless I told you, or you turn them inside out and go hunting or the woven in ends.

If I ever do a project perfectly right I'll be very surprised.  It's a learning process.  And that's OK.