Thursday, March 13, 2014

Running With Scissors

Scissors are terrifying.  Useful, sure, but when you've worked hard on something, it's difficult to take an honest look at it and acknowledge that there is a problem, and it has to go.

One of the great things about crochet is that it is relatively painless to go back and fix mistakes, as long as you're willing to pull out a few stitches.  From what I hear, this is much more difficult with knitting.  But once you've crocheted pieces together, and cut and woven in your yarn, things get trickier.

Fellow hookers, I am here to tell you that there is hope!  Here is my story.

I am in the middle of making a blanket.  It is large.  I am really excited about it, because I love colors, and this blanket is full of them.  Here is the color scheme for the top right corner:




These are the colors I wanted to use.  But the selection of yarns at Joann's was uncooperative - there was no light yellow or bright green in worsted weight.  I consider myself to be a flexible person, so I chose a darker green, and a bright yellow with a lot of green in it.  So much green, in fact, that it was awfully close to my light green yarn.

Despite my reservations, I forged ahead and finished the first seven columns.  They included a light yellow (actually greenish) hexagon three rows down in the sixth column.  It looked terrible, but I couldn't handle the thought of undoing hours of work to fix it.  I tried to convince myself that it would blend in when I added the other greens and blues.  But it stuck out like a sore thumb, and I finally acknowledged that it would have to go.  So I got out my scalpel...er, scissors, and prepped my baby for a hexagon transplant.

Here is a picture mid-surgery:


I was extremely careful not to cut the yarn from other hexagons!  And here it is, post-hexagonectomy:


Then it was time to place the new hexagon.  I ordered a bright yellow yarn online, crocheted a new piece, and hoped for the best:


Successful surgery!  The yarn is thinner than the rest - stay tuned for my rant about dirty, lying belly bands - but I think it will do.  And now, back to work on the rest of the blanket!

By the way, here is the link to the pattern I'm using.  It's $3.75 on Ravelry, by BabyLove Brand.

12 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks! It's nice to know I can fix it if I do something similar :)

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  2. You're a much braver woman than me, I would be shaking if I had to take scissors to my work

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  3. It took me a long time to decide to do it! But the color was seriously wrong, and I think that would have caused me more anxiety in the long run
    #maybe a bit crazy about color

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  4. Hexagonectomy? LOVE IT! This post is very encouraging to me, as I've been looking at the UNC blanket I'm working on, and realize that I screwed up a middle row. At the time, I didn't realize how bad it would look in the whole scheme of things. Now that I'm further along, it's bugging me! Since it's a row of 120-something stitches, plus the rows before and after, I'm really not sure I can frog it without it messing everything else up.

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    1. I'm glad it's encouraging, and I hope you find a way to live with or fix that darned middle row ;)

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  5. A fascinating journey! I look forward to seeing how this baby unfolds as you go along!

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  6. Hi, Lizzie! I love the blanket. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. I did notice you are from my hometown....jealous and homesick! ~Kelly

    unDeniably Domestic

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    1. Thank you!! I'll send California vibes your way :)

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  7. Such a well-written, funny and interestig post!! :) good luck with your blanket and your crochet-surgeries! keep crocheting and blogging!

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    1. Thanks for the kind words! I'm really enjoying blogging so far :)

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