Errata

I frogged my Shetland Tea Shawl back to the safety line. I'd put off the frogging for weeks, keeping the shawl in "time out," as some knitters like to say, but just taking out the knitting that was obviously not working felt good and I started back in on the shawl instead of putting it aside for a while as I'd planned.

Well, twelve rows into the Diamon Madeira chart, it became apparent that the problem had NOT been with me. I wasn't inattentive or unskilled when I worked on this the first time. How do I know? My very attentive and careful second knitting has given me the same misshapen diamonds I got the first time!

Hmmm, I thought, what am I doing wrong? Hmmm, I thought, maybe there is something wrong with the way I'm reading the chart. Hmmm, I thought, maybe there is something wrong with the chart!

I've just gone online and downloaded the "errata" for the book the pattern is in. Yep, not only is there a note about moving the pattern over one stitch on 8 of the 36 rows -- the chart is completely different!!!!! No wonder 1) the pattern didn't look anything like the one in the photograph and 2) I couldn't even get the pattern straight.

Wouldn't it be nice if life offered you a chance to publish your own errata periodically? As I transition into a different phase of parenting, I worry that I have missed something in preparing my sons for the "real world." As they stumble through the pains of becoming an adult, I wish I could have given them something that would make it easier -- even though they make it abundantly clear that they need and want to make their own mistakes and not direct their lives completely on my and my husband's pontifications about our own discoveries of how things should work or be done.

Could I please go back and re-do the parenting experience and get it right the way I'm going to pull out that Diamond Madeira pattern one more time and strive for perfection? No. Maybe that is why I find knitting so comforting in a family and work life that doesn't allow do-overs. Knitting comes with a chart to follow -- you know what the result will look like if you just follow the pattern. Well, most of the time you do. But if it isn't working, take my advice and don't assume you are the problem -- look for the errata.

ON MY NEEDLES
Yep, that green Shetland Tea Shawl is still on the needles. I'll try to go back to the safety line one more time so I can knit in the car on our way to PA this week.

Some progress on the pink socks.

No progress on the braids cardigan.

Plans to get back to the Sunset Circle Jacket and the Tilted Duster.

OFF MY NEEDLES
The Baby Poonan. I just need to sew on the buttons. And, I just learned about a former student who is pregnant, so I need to cast on another baby sweater right away.