Sunday, July 25, 2004

Lessons Learned

Let me first say in my defense that I am a TOTAL beginner at this whole Fair Isle thing. I know there is at least a couple of people reading that are with me on this. I will now save those people from making the same mistake I did.  Friends don't let friends make dorky mistakes :)

Do you know that when you read a chart while knitting flat not in the round, you read it from right to left, left to right, right to left, and so on? Well if you do, you are one up on me my friend. I have never read a chart in my life. It didn't specifically state in the pattern to read the pattern this way, so I just read it right to left, right to left, right to left... Luckily the main pattern still worked out. I guess that if it hadn't worked out, I would have figured out I was doing something wrong. Well actually I don't guess, I know. I found out that I was screwing up when I got to a part of the chart, and it just wasn't looking right. Rip rip rip knit knit knit, and it still didn't look right.

Me: "Janette what the haites am I doing wrong? Is this chart wrong? This should look like this, and it doesn't?"

Janette: "No the chart looks right to me."


Me: "Well something can't be right this is supposed to have brown stripes, but I'm not getting brown stripes"

Janette: "Yeah it looks like the chart will give you brown stripes"

Me: "But I'm not getting brown stripes"

Janette: "How are you reading your chart? Are you reading it right to left then left to right?"

Me: "Huh???"


I was lucky that the mistake didn't mess up the main design of the bag. It did however mess up the sides, but noone is going to notice it but me. I'm gonna suck it up and leave the mistake. There is no way I'm ripping it out. It's not like it looks bad. It's just different from the chart.


Well there ya have it. Thank God for Janette, or I would have been bashing my brains out over that one. So folks, learn from my screw up. If you have never read a chart before, remember when you are knitting flat you work the chart starting at the bottom. On the first row you read it right to left, and on the next row you read left to right.