Panic Slowly Creeping In

I did not sleep well last night. Holli's sweater is coming along, but I spent yesterday feeling weird about it. All day. The pattern has me knit ribbing and then slip some stitches onto a stitch holder for the kangaroo pocket. Fine. Then I have to do a cable cast on to replace those stitches. Made sense. I start doing it and realize that this pretty much leaves a very long buttonhole looking HOLE in the front of the sweater. Um...what? Naturally, I look over the pattern again and try to see what I missed. Is this right? Is that how it's supposed to look? After several re-reads, I am sure that I did what the instructions say to do.

Onward...



I continue with the new stitches and knit the sweater up another 30 rows, as per the pattern. All right. I'm starting to feel uneasy about the huge hole. I know, I'm weird that way. So I look over the pattern again, thinking this is why you're supposed to read it fully first and make sure you understand everything. I swear I did that, but maybe it was more like skimmed... No sign of how to fix the hole. There's an explanation of how to reattach the pocket to the sweater at the TOP of the pocket, but nothing about the bottom. I am feeling weird, but figure that I'm missing it and it will work out.

Then I hear the Yarn Harlot's voice in Knitting Rules talking about how in denial knitters can knit for a really long time before they realize and admit that there's a problem. Hmmm.



Yesterday afternoon, I looked at the pattern again. Still not seeing it. Panic begins to creep in. I put it away. Last night, I sat down to watch TV (Kitchen Nightmares and CSI: New York) and stare at the sweater. I look over the pattern again. Not seeing it. I ask Brian to read it over. And yeah, he considerately keeps asking why there's a huge gaping hole in the sweater. While he reads, I start on the pocket, admiring the color choices and how they compliment each other. Nice. Don't worry, I think--he'll find it. You're just not seeing because you're looking too hard.



He doesn' t find anything about the hole, either. Or how to fix the hole. Uh-oh. I finish the pocket front. It's too late, and my tummy is starting to freak out. I had tried online, and didn't find any errata for the pattern. I also can't find anyone who has the book or has made the pattern--even on Ravelry! I emailed a couple of people, including the designer of the pattern: Louisa Harding. Desperate, I checked on Ravelry for another pattern with a kangaroo pocket by this designer. She has another kid's sweater that looks pretty much just like this one! It's called something "whistle sweater"...can't remember now. Anyhow, I stalk send a message to someone who's made the whistle sweater (successfully) to ask about the pocket construction for that pattern. Now I have to wait.



So here I am, trying to sleep while a sweater sits in a my knitting bag, gaping open at the gut. I feel like I am gaping open at the gut. Restful sleep evades me, while I worry and try to figure something out. The little devil of Denial sits on my shoulder telling me to "just keep knitting...you'll find a way to close the hole". The Knitting angel sits on the other, whispering "you'll have to frog back to the ribbing and find a way to avoid the hole in the first place". And then I fell soundly asleep. Not.

This morning I woke (still terribly tired, let me tell you) knowing that I had to frog back to the ribbing. I couldn't knit a crazy-super-sized-huge-sweater and not admit that some thing's wrong. If you've read Knitting Rules, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you should seriously go and get it. Really. So I hit the ground running, secure in the fact that when I took out the sweater, I would have to start ripping. Oh, it was sad.

Fast forward to right now. I'm about to log out and take my knitting to the family room for some television. I have a sweater with a pocket attached at the top and not the bottom. Yes, I do. And I'm going to keep knitting. Am I in denial? No. Am I crazy? Nope. Masochist? No, no, silly.

Louisa Harding emailed me back this morning. I am on the right track. Apparently I missed a little sentence at the very end of the pattern that says: Join cast on edge of pocket to top of rib for sweater behind pocket using slip stitch.

Errr...duh. Thank you, Louisa! And also to Pat from Ravelry, who took the time to answer my question, too--thanks so much!