for janet, there is alhambra. and for the others, there was cake.
yesterday was a busy class day; everyone is ramping up their knitting of small projects to stockpile gifts for the holidays. i finished my brown sock and a hat, several people were working on mitts (i think it’s safe to say that delicato is a class favorite).
during the afternoon class, a few of us stretched and pinned susie’s casino shawl in my blocking living room.
look at the beautiful late-autumn palette in that yarn . . . this is fearless fibers laceweight cashmere (sadly not being produced at the moment, but we keep hoping) in colorway exotic wood. sigh. it feels just as yummy as it looks.
susie’s favorite part is the top edge with its gently scalloping border. here’s a nice shot of the whole corner, where you get a little taste of everything—top edge, side edge and body stitch
we were just so excited to get this thing on the wires and pulled out so we could get our first look at it’s final beauty. we did the sides first and were pinning the scallops along the top border when we found a nasty little surprise
i think susie would have had a complete meltdown if she was alone. but she was with janet and me and we were all over that puppy . . . “we can fix it!” (like it’s some kind of prize); “aw, that’s nuthin suze!” (like we see torn shawls every day)—it’s not exactly rubbernecking if you know how to fix it . . is it?? there we were, bent right over it to get a closer look while susie turned toward the bathroom, deciding if she would be sick right this second—or not.
i put a few pins in to secure the loose sts—it turned out it not to be a tear, but a dropped stitch in the knit-on edging. i told susie i wanted to wait til it was dry to fix it; she said she’d bring the leftover yarn by in the morning.
once i’d finished my pattern writing for the day, i set to work on the hole
i figured out what happened and which sts were affected (only a few as it turns out). the good news was that it happened on the knit-on edging, where it attaches to the base of row 1 of the shawl body, so a couple of the loose stitches were the base of that row and those can’t run very far. i gathered up the loose sts row-by-row on my pins and figured out how to knit them back together into the pattern
i had to back up twice to look at the same thing which wasn’t going back together quite right, but eventually i solved it.
once i had it down to the last ssk, i pulled a 6-inch piece of spare yarn through those loops and sewed them down to the stitch they should have originally connected to
then pulled the ends of that to the wrong side and wove them in.
a little spot-blocking and stretching should make the whole thing match any other equivalent section. here’s a shot of the adjacent, intact section that did not need repair
the only thing i couldn’t manage was working the joins from the wrong side, as it would have been done originally; i just couldn’t seem to operate without seeing the face of the fabric. so there is a very slight variation in how the join looks in the repaired section. i’m ok with that, though.
all’s well that ends well. this is going to look beautiful on susie—brown is her color. i made her promise to do some modeling shots when she picks the shawl up (and don’t think you can get away with coming after dark susie!).
last night i started my second woodsmoke sock (that’s the sock i showed the other day) and the wiggle scarf
the scarf is wide-ish which i wasn’t sure i’d like, but i do, because the yarn is SO very comfy. i’m planning on devoting my late-night knitting time to this one for a while.
today i also did some cooking because we were getting so low on made-ahead meals. we’ve eaten sandwiches several times since friday—oops. david doesn’t care, but i get tired of a steady diet of meals that aren’t well-balanced. so i made soup
using the last of the fresh greens from my garden. i went out sunday and cut down the remaining chard and spinach that were growing (bright green against a sea of brown), so i could make a pot of greens and beans. we like ours with chick peas.
then i baked a big batch of macaroni and cheese—enough to put several casseroles in the freezer for another time. mmm, and that’s what we had for dinner.
ok now, time to get away from this darn computer and start my evening knitting.
see you tomorrow.
34 thoughts on “everybody’s happy after all”
Whoa! That was quite a fix-it job! I can’t tell the difference.
On a food note, do you have a favorite book or website that tells you the best ways to preserve fresh produce from your garden?
Thanks!
excellent save!
man, that fearless fibers yarn is to die for!
Terrific save! Poor Suzie- I think would have passed out. How lucky she was to have you there! Her shawl is awesome!
What a great save! I don’t know what I would have done in the same predicament–crying and swearing spring to mind!!
mmmm….macaroni. one of the reasons i like fall/winter. a dropped stick post-cast off is one bit of excitement i’ve yet to encounter. fortunate for susie that you were there to provide assurance of a rescue. it’s one of those things you know is possible, but after all that work, you may just not want to deal with it…it turned out lovely though, good job on the save and good job to susie on the knitting!
1) I echo Peggy’s food question. Also, you must have some very large pots? Even my 8-qt Dutch oven could not handle that much macaroni. I have some very large stockpots, but their quality is not so good–very thin, prone to burn. So I’m curious how you work around that kind of thing.
2) THANK YOU SO MUCH for that little tutorial. (Although you omitted the really skilled part, heh–figuring out what needs to be re-knitted and how.) I confronted a similar problem with my Irtfa’a a little while ago and eventually gave up and ripped back the edging because I wasn’t sure how to address it. But that is how I would have done it, if I had had to (although most of all, I would like to have Anne Hanson to do it for me!). It is especially good to know because I think I’ve made a worse problem in the edging that may end up similarly unless I want to tear back all of it again (much more now too) as well as some shawl rows… sigh. My first knitted-on edging, and I made the mistake of working on it late at night in dim lighting, can you tell?
Wow, you did a wonderful job repairing the shawl!
This just goes to confirm my belief that you are a knitting goddess. Mmm, the mac & cheese looks yummy.
wow, that mac and cheese looks awesome.
whoa – how totally cool that you were able to save that shawl.
you rock!
LOVE the color of that yarn – it’s perfect for the casino shawl.
Excellent save! Thanks for the tutorial (although if it were to happen to me, I’d much rather fly you over here to fix it in person)! That IS a lot of macaroni and cheese. Looks very yummy!
I would never know how to repair lace, unless it was something very simple. I would have to rip out an entire section to repair something like that. The shawl is beautiful, though!
Anne- I think Fearless Fibers may have to resurrect that yarn, or at least the color.
Who said being a vegetarian is boring?
I can absolutely take on the feelings your friend must have had with her dropped stitches. AND also feel the gratitude she must have for you fixing it with such expert care. Really, amazing. That was so sweet and kind and merciful! ;o) I just have to say Thank You! I feel so much better now!
I was sitting in suspense while reading your post about fixing the hole. You are awesome!
I can’t believe you still had spinach, with all the hard frosts we’ve had. Must be very hearty!
You are a genius to be able to fix the hole. Dr. Anne. I know who I’ll call in case of ememrgency!
Wow, not only are you an amazing designer and knitter, but a super-amazing knit-doctor! I tend to get so upset by these things that I don’t have the patience for the painstaking repairs. You did a wonderful job!
Okay – I may look very weird asking about recipes on your knitting blog but would you want to share your mac and cheese recipe with me ???
Looks good and frankly i haven’t been able to put on my hands on a real good one…
Good save! Thank you for posting pics of items being blocked – I am never sure exactly how to block my shawls *grin* its good to see how other people do it too. Anne, how often do you block your shawls? I have one shawl I swear shrinks in an inch everytime I wear it, and every time I put it away I tell myself I’ll block it again this weekend. (Its already been blocked 2 times and its only 2 months old.)
It made me smile to read that you do your fixes and joins while looking at the front of the fabric. I can only tink while looking at the right side, same with picking up stitches. Turning the work around – makes me wig out – heeby jeebies,cold sweats the whole thing.
Enjoy the last of your garden yummies. We tried your recipe for sun dried tomatoes and tomato paste. Wonderful. My son and I wish we could just grow tomatoes year round (oh and blueberries too)!
Great save!! The colors in that shawl are just scrumptious!
What a great idea freezing mac and cheese!
Brilliant repair! You could hire yourself out as a Lace Emergency Doctor. :o)
You’re a Houdini Anne. You can’t even tell there was anything wrong with that shawl. I kept looking from one picture to the next; can’t tell!!! Tell Susie her shawl is gorgeous!!! I LOvE that casino pattern. It is motivating me to finish my second one. . . . (but not before Christmas! hahaha).
Wow, I don’t know if I could have fixed it so well! I’d have cryed lol.
When I first started knitting my biggest complaint was that it was harder for me to fix a mistake in knitting than in crochet. I started projects over so many times because of that. Now I’ve gotten the hang of making little fixes easily, but I still have trouble with lace repairs. You did a great job with that little hole!!
Whew! That shawl fix was a nail-biter (and I SO sympathize with that sick feeling). All of your projects (food ones included) look yummy, and did I see something about a lace stole in that last post? 😉
I REALLY need to knit that casino shawl already!!! It’s gorgeous.
But, most importantly, what mac n cheese recipe do you use?? that looks GOOOOOOD!
What a beautiful shawl, Anne. Amazing save! Do you do house calls? I just got one of your patterns and am looking forward to working on it.
Anne, your fix on the gorgeous shawl is just amazing!
I’m a big fan of your patterns, but right now I’m an even bigger fan of your mac and cheese! Looks delish — wonder if you’d share your recipe?? Please!
What a spectacular intervention on Susie’s wrap. My intervention would have been to gather up the live stitches on yarn, tie a couple knots and then wear a pin over the problem area
i am really, really hoping that you would consider sharing your macaroni and cheese recipe!!!!
Well done! Whew.. I panicked as soon as I saw that picture. Nice fix!
Mmmm I’m loving the Mac and Cheese.
I echo all others on that amazing lace surgical intervention. I want to know when they are going to do a Dateline episode on knitting surgery. SHouldn’t there have been lights and cameras recoridng your amazing feat? And please assure me that you were wearing your knitted red cape because, you know, you are . . .kind of a knitting super hero! =)
I’m very behind in blogging, but wow that mac N cheese looks divine. Hmm…cold weekend ahead, I should make some!
🙂
And I just bought Spiralucious and Ice Fantasia – you are amazing, you know that?
Just amazing…
(((hugs)))
what a beautiful shawl! what a beautiful save!! I have a question…is that loop edging on Casino knit or crochet? (oh please say it’s knit…).
if your macncheez recipe is as good as your patterns, it’ll be fabulous!
If good pictures make a good blogger, you’re definitely one of the best one out there, Anne! A pleasure to read and ogle, as always.
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