I Made A Big Mistake

The yarn for my Liberty (rav link) throw arrived on Friday & Saturday, and I spent the bulk of yesterday (when not walking and bathing the dogs) getting a really good start on it:

I'm about 20 rows into the pattern (plus the 8 edging rows), or approx. 5,600 stitches. I'm very pleased with the colors--somehow, this grey-blue combination seems less boring and prettier to me than my original grey-blue combination. Thanks to the excellent illustrated instructions in the book, I'm getting used to catching the stitches behind my work, which I've never quite learned how to do before. It's still a little awkward when I'm catching the grey behind the blue, but it's still probably faster and more consistent than dropping both yarns, twisting them, and picking them back up.

So what's the "Big Mistake" I refer to in the title? It's knitting 101--I twisted the edge when I joined the blanket into a circle. Yes, really. I noticed it after a couple of rows, but didn't quite have the will to pull out 1000 stitches. Since there's a steek, I figured I could probably just keep knitting it twisted, but that eventually the weight of the giant blanket might (o.k. would) distort the whole thing. My plan (culled from the Ravelry forums, when someone else had a similar problem) was to cut the existing steek, untwist the blanket, and cast on a new steek. I cast off the steek, machine stabilized it, and cut it. Welcome to big mistake #2:

I didn't cut in the middle of the steek, I cut to the left of the center. I had stabilized in three places, and cut between the wrong two. Yes, I do feel like an idiot. However, I think that everything will be fine. I've tacked down the left edge so that it won't fray while I keep knitting, and I will have room to pick up stitches for the edging after I'm done. The mistake is early enough that it should be totally enclosed by the edging, so I think it will be fine. NOTE: If anyone out there knows for a fact that I this is NOT going to be fine, please let me know now, so I don't have an unpleasant surprise after knitting the other 70,000 stitches. And when I get ready to cut the big steek, please remind me that maybe I should be a little careful. I don't need to panic when it comes time to cut, but I do need to cut in the right place.

Project Notes: The pattern is Liberty (rav link), from Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines. The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca, in charcoal mix and pastel blue. I'm using size 8 knitpicks options needles. Excluding the sick feeling of cutting a steek in the wrong spot, I am enjoying this project very much.

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I Made A Big Mistake: Wilco, "Monday"