A Sad Tale with a Happy Ending

 

Good day to all of you.  I hope you are ready to hear my tale of woe that ended up with a shout of joy.

It all started yesterday afternoon.  I was over at my Grand Daughter's house spending time with her and her dog, Thor.  I was happily knitting on my Reyna shawl.  It is kind of slow going at the point I was working on as it is a mesh lace and I need to pay attention to it or I will have miss matched mesh rows.

My phone rings and I see it is my DIL from Texas.  I am filled with joy to hear from her.  She is so fun to talk to and we always can make a laugh out of any situation, no matter how unfunny it may be.  

I lay my knitting in my lap and talk with my DIL for almost an hour.  We laughed quite a bit, talked about my grand kids that live there, and also did some research for some issues she was having and came up with babkas for answers.  But it was just so nice to spend some time with her since we can not be together for a while yet.  (It has been over 18 months since we have been with each other in person).

After we were done talking, I picked up my knitting only to discover I had dropped about 5 stitches,  Normally, this is not an issue but, on mesh, it is not a simple 'grab the stitch and work it back up to where it belongs.  I grabbed the solid parts of the mesh and got them on the needle but trying to figure out the YO (yarn over) stitches was impossible for this knitter.

You know what this means, right?  Yup, time to tink back until I get to the row where I was able to save the solid stitches.  This is not a fun thing as there are a lot of knit 2 together and slip slip knit  stitches that help make the mesh, mesh.  (If you are not a knitter, I apologize for totally confusing you at this point)  I estimated I would be tinking back 2-3 rows to be able to repair the problem.  The first thing I did was gather the shawl and throw it into the project bag.  Then Josie, Thor and I headed upstairs to look at the Christmas decorating she had done in her room and also in the loft.  After we had exhausted that endeavor, we headed back downstairs and decided it was time for a mid afternoon snack.  By this time I only had about 45 minutes before I needed to head back home.

Being the reasonable and brave person I am, I grabbed the project bag, pulled out the shawl and decided I would start tinking back, stitch by stitch.  This should not be too big of an issue, right?  There are only about 150 stitches on each row.  I was lucky that I was only halfway through a row when the stitches fell off.  The partial row got tinked back and by then it was time for me to head home.

After dinner, hubby and I settled in to watch a Christmas movie.  (Jingle Jangle on Netflix)  I picked up the shawl and continued on the tinking adventure.  (Side note*  The difference between tinking and frogging is; tinking is done stitch by stitch with needles still in the project and frogging is taking your needle(s) out and grabbing the yarn and ripping rows out and then putting your needle(s) back into the stitches that are left.)  Needless to say, tinking is not something that is quick. Tinking on llama/silk light fingering weight (Verging on lace) yarn is even slower!   But I persevered and by the end of the movie, I had tinked back 6! rows of mesh and knit 2 rows back onto the shawl.

The joyful ending of the story is...................With patience and fortitude, even the ugliest task can be accomplished.  Once that task is accomplished, it gives you pride in doing something you thought would be insurmountable.  My shawl will continue to receive all my attention this week.  My hope is to have it completed by Christmas so I can wear it to Christmas Eve Mass.  And yes, I am quite proud of the fact I did not give up and just throw the shawl into a bin to "work on later".

Until next time.......................................Chin up!

PS:  I finished putting up the inside Christmas Decorations yesterday!  Another item off my to do list for the week!