Wednesday, May 03, 2006

What To Do?




This was supposed to be my project for Moll Flanders. I think of Moll as a survivor, and the pattern for this cap was originally designed as a chemo cap. As I worked on it, I saw the contined crossing of the cables as symbolic of Moll's life also. Nothing she did seemed to be a straight progression from point a to point b.

However, as I knit, I discovered an error, which doesn't show up well in the fuzzy picture. Twice as I worked through the pattern, I forgot to cross the cables. I wanted to think it was a problem with the pattern, but since I did cross the cables elsewhere in that row, I know it was a problem with my wandering attention.

I considered just finishing the hat, pretending that I didn't know, but I did know. I wouldn't let it go if I were knitting the hat for myself, and I'm not going to let it go when giving the cap away, even if the rows with 64 cable crosses take me over an hour to do. I don't know if that is the awkwardness of handling the cable needle, my own propensity to knit slowly, or just why.

So I'm frogging this hat, hope to get back to it soon, but I am dispirited. I will say the knitting of the hat progresses pretty quickly, with the exception of the 64-cable-crosses-to-a-row part.

2 comments:

Becky said...

It is a beautiful hat, but I understand the dilemma. I just finished a hat for a friend. There was one mistake that I couldn't fix. I was torn between frogging or finishing. I finished, but it will forever haunt me, especially since it is for someone else. I have another hat to make for the same person, so I hope to make that one perfect.

I liked reading Moll, too. It was an interesting change.

Carrie K said...

I'd've left it too, maybe. Maybe not. It's a hard decision, isn't it? KSD is right about Moll leaving her mistakes in.

So far, I haven't finished a project yet for Knit the Classics. Shhhh. That darn Moll Shawl was supposed to be a quick easy knit!