I is for...

Ingenuity.

Inventive skill or imagination, cleverness. The state of being ingeniously contrived.
(American Heritage Dictionary).

Almost two years ago, our cultural folk hero, Stephanie (yes that one) wrote an amazing tutorial post that I read every single word of, and then I chuckled and read it again.. It was ingenious - brilliant - remarkable - stunning. AND, I said to myself in the back of my head - "hmmmmmm, girl, you'd best remember that particular one, you might need it one day."
Well, "someday" arrived.
Remember my most recent cabled sweater (yes, yes,  I know that I haven't gotten around to posting completed photos of it yet  (*grins*). chalk it up to many work days and few sunny days and coordination required with my photographer friends.. it's coming, I promise. it's lovely. I wear it.)
When I got to the very final stage, the blocking, I noticed a potentially "fatal" flaw....
gasp...
back about 100 rows, I had missed a cable cross-over.

big sighs all around.
Here's the evidence close up.

nasty, isn't it.

Yes, I can hear all you knitters heaving a huge sigh out there.

99% of the sweater was completed with no issues, and then when entering the final stage (blocking) what appears... sigh.. that splotch.

ick.

I seriously contemplated ripping the whole thing back to that spot - yet it was more than 100 rows back, and I so longed to WEAR this during the same calendar year that I made it.

Suddenly, the bell went off in my head, and I recalled Stephanie's Post "All is not Lost" (bless her). I then measured my sweater, and realized that this "flaw" would be situated under my arm....... aha! Who looks under the arm of a sweater, and how often does it show? I pondered this for all of about 30 minutes, and decided to execute Stephanie's technique.

Clever beyond words is all that I have to say.

I am pleased as punch, tickled as toast, happy as a pig in.. (well you get my drift) I decided that at least for the time being, I would stitch on top of the old stitches, as she suggests, and then  perhaps consider ripping it out someday in the forever future (hah!)

It was a successful event - and I have worn the sweater a few times. I hope to show you photos in the very near future.

Trust me - that Stephanie is just plain amazing. I turn toward the East, an send her a hail and hearty thank you - and a big grin for success. Mission accomplished.

  P>S> a few of you have asked me where exactly the error is - so here I have drawn a circle around it. I suspect that it's a bit like to Escher drawings, where once you can "see" it, then it becomes obvious.

Comments

[Jane]

You and Stephanie are very clever knitters!

[Carole]

Dude, I can't see the error.

[Julie]

Genius eh? That post totally saved me when I was making Jack's Aran for Jason.

[Lisa]

Wow. I don't think I could rip back that far either. Hope to see those finished pictures soon!

[margene]

Smart you are! Smart!

[stacey]

that is brilliant!!! i'd do the same thing. i couldn't deal with ripping back 100 rows!

[Wool Winder]

I remember reading that post back then too. It was eye-opening. I also tucked it away for later use, but so far haven't had need to use it. I'm sure my day will come.

[Wool Winder]

I remember reading that post back then too. It was eye-opening. I also tucked it away for later use, but so far haven't had need to use it. I'm sure my day will come.

[Susan]

Good for you, never rip out if you can fix it some other way!
(from the abc along)

[Lorette]

There's no way I'd rip that far either, unless I absolutely had to. I just love that color.

[amanda]

well two cheers for your intrepid bravery! i'd have left it alone...just the thought of tackling that makes my knees shake in fear :)

[sprite]

Count me amongst the unseeing. I don't see the problem. Maybe I'd notice it if I saw what the other ones are supposed to look like, but just looking at the one, I don't see anything wrong.

[Josiane]

It took me a long time to find out where you had missed a cable cross-over, but when I finally found it I realised that one of the reasons why I hadn't seen the "problem" right away is that I really like the effect it produces, kind of an elongated diamond shape. Had I found such a "mistake" in my swatch before starting the sweater, I'd have turned it into a design element and would have knit the whole sweater like that. Yes, I like your "mistake version" of the cable that much!

[Josiane]

Oh, seeing the note you have added, I realise I was completely wrong! The error is not at all where I thought it was... I sincerely thought that the part you circled was part of the pattern, it was so nicely placed by the middle of the braided cable!
What I had thought was the error is actually at the bottom of that braided cable: the bottom point seems a bit elongated compared to the other braids, so I thought maybe that was where you had missed a cable cross-over. It may be the angle at which the picture was taken that tricked my eye into seeing something different there...

[Julie]

Too funny you should post this...I did the very same thing this week and saved myself a cable headache. :o) What did we do before the internet?

[Karen]

You are such a clever knitter! I could never rip back that much work either.

[Ruinwen]

Wow! Patience as well as ingenuity! :)

[Leslie Wind]

Perhaps you should now call yourself the
"untwisted sister"

[Chris]

Ouch! Doing that correction has to be one of those deeply satisfying knitterly accomplishments. :)