5/24/2017
So just a note about the name for this category. When I was learning how to knit, I had very little patience for fixing my mistakes. Whenever I made a mistake, I usually either threw it down in frustration or handed it to mom to fix it for me. Mom of course got very tired fixing my knits time after time and eventually was able to teach me to fix mistakes: fixing dropped stitches, fixing knit/purl issues etc. But she isn’t perfect either and both of us have a very strong aversion to ripping out our work. So whenever she notices a mistake she has made and doesn’t feel like fixing it, she dubs the project a Bower original! Making fun of herself for messing up the pattern.
So my Bower original mistake this week was in my Waiting for Rain shawl. I had just gotten done with my second lace panel and I was counting stitches to make sure I was still on track. I was missing 2 stitches. Now I’m good at fixing most mistakes, but lace is complicated and even if you “fix” it by dropping stitches down, the lace may still look wrong because of how you pulled/unknit and reknit it. So the only good option is to rip back to where you made the mistake. That was so not happening. Lace knitting I love but ripping out lace without a lifeline, I don’t love. I could barely tell where my mistake was which means the average person will not be able to find my mistake. Now it’s a Bower original! I knit on and picked up stitches in the general vicinity of where my missing stitches should have been. And no one will ever know, it will be our little secret.