Tuesday, November 01, 2005

On dropping stitches...

The knitting of the Clapotis is finished. It was pretty quick. It's the unravelling that's taking all the time.

It's funny. So many knitters live in abject fear of a dropped stitch. (Except those brave souls who cable without a cable needle.)

After having dropped stitches willy-nilly on the Clapotis -- as instructed, of course -- I can tell you that a dropped stitch may not be so inclined to drop as you might expect. It's actually taking upwards of 10 minutes (yes, I timed it), to unravel a stitch all the way down. It's likely due to the nature of the yarn, a slightly fuzzy and slubby silk and mohair mix, but even so, these stitches aren't inclined to go very far on their own.

A useful lesson.

I think I'll use this as an exercise in my next Project workshop. I do teach students how to pick up a stitch with a crochet hook, but having them get a sense of how a stitch behaves as it is unravelling is a very good idea.

No comments: