The most annoying mistakes you make when knitting.

I have been knitting with a gorgeous soft thread best described as eyelash effect. The trouble is if you drop a stitch theres no way it can be caught not by me anyway. I have done it a few times being hasty finishing what I am doing. It’s impossible to catch up with the stitch because of the thread being the way it is.
I haven’t picked up knitting needles for years but taken it up again for dementia patients. Anyone else more experienced than me could probably solve it but I end up undoing lines of knitting!

My father regularly used to ask my mother 'are you going backwards or forwards at the moment?'

Ages ago on a cabled sweater for a child, I realized I had cabled the wrong way on one of the cables, but I didn't realize the mistake until the back was complete, and it was near the bottom. I'm afraid I left it....

I did the same once on a diamond eyelet pattern, where one of the yarn-overs was off by a stitch, only realized once I was nearly complete.

I just think you're all amazing to be able to knit things like cables and fancy stitches. I wish I could - purl and plain are my limit!

Twisting the stitches when joining in the round is a very annoying mistake, specially when there are hundreds of stitches and you've knitted a few rounds before noticing.

My biggest error is not checking the tension so often end up with a huge garment !

AskAlice

I just think you're all amazing to be able to knit things like cables and fancy stitches. I wish I could - purl and plain are my limit!

I can’t do ‘fancy’ either - or at least I don’t bother trying, since I know it’ll end not in tears, but in a lot of having to unravel, accompanied by great deal of very unladylike language.

Witzend

My worst mistake was knitting two left fronts of a cardigan. I never did undo it and finish it!

B9exchange

My father regularly used to ask my mother 'are you going backwards or forwards at the moment?'

That’s very often me when following a complicated (for me) pattern. 😂

I used to have a knitting machine so actually doing a stocking stitch part of a child’s garment was really quick. I knitted a raglan cardigan and when I put all the bits on the needles to make the neckband I had :-
Left front, sleeve, back, sleeve, right front, sleeve.
It wasn’t till I went to pick up for the front bands I noticed I had made something for a three armed child!
I hand knit now and oh, I feel the pain of knitting half the first row with the casting on tail! It’s impossible to tink it back so I just have to start again.

shysal

My worst mistake was knitting two left fronts of a cardigan. I never did undo it and finish it!

Oh dear! That must have been disheartening.

I can never get the sides to look neat when they say slip a stitch or start the row with a knit stitch. Mine are always bulky.

An intarsia pattern! I was so busy following the complicated pattern I forgot to do all the decreases for the sleeves ☹ so I had to undo lots of rows and start again.

Trying to knit anything wearable!!!!! I can crochet and sew but my knitting is something to be believed I can't keep the tension right.

Leaving my knitting on the chair only to find one of our little cats has unravelled it and run round the house with the ball.

CanadianGran

Ages ago on a cabled sweater for a child, I realized I had cabled the wrong way on one of the cables, but I didn't realize the mistake until the back was complete, and it was near the bottom. I'm afraid I left it....

I did the same once on a diamond eyelet pattern, where one of the yarn-overs was off by a stitch, only realized once I was nearly complete.

I believe the Romans would put a small mistake in every mosaic, as only the gods could be perfect.
Clearly all my craft work bears that in mind.

shysal

My worst mistake was knitting two left fronts of a cardigan. I never did undo it and finish it!

I once binned a virtually finished long black knitted jacket that was supposed to be for my sister. There was a very long ‘pick up and knit’ strip of rib that went all up one side, round the neck, and down the other. And I just could not do it - not helped by black yarn - so difficult to distinguish stitches anyway.
Luckily it was only relatively cheap yarn.

That was my ‘best’ ever UFO (unfinished object), maybe 10 years ago now, and I haven’t had a UFO since.

Chardy, that's what I tell myself when finding a mistake, especially in ribbing. My latest knitted cardigan has a few of those. Luckily it's navy blue and doesn't notice.
Witzend, my just finished cardigan, has one of those long 'pick up and knit' button bands. 400 odd stitches. Oh I was so glad when I finished it.

Another one - when you’re working all in garter stitch, but forget and automatically start a purl row after a knit one - and don’t realise until you’ve done a third of the row.

Which is what I did earlier, while knitting a monster’s foot. 😩

Ugh, I hate 'pick up and knit' ribbing for finishing cardigans. And I can't imagine doing it with black yarn!

I have bypassed patterns in the past with those instructions, and found something with the ribbing knit along as you go. Less likelihood of getting the tension wrong as well.

I used to have a knitting machine, but my first attempts showed that I was useless at doing the welts and ribbing round the neck. I resolved this by hand knitting them, and then attaching the hand knitted bit to the knitting machine. Suddenly I started getting fulsome compliments over my beautiful hand knitted garments………… does anyone remember June Whitfield advertising Fray Bentos steak and kidney pies? If you did, you’ll know my temptation!

I reckon that my biggest mistake when I am knitting is pouring myself a glass of wine.

Mine is probably trying to watch something needing a bit of concentration on the TV, absent, while at the same time trying to follow a pattern that goes e.g. K13, K2tog, K1, Sl1, psso, etc. , decreasing in similar fashion for the next 20 odd rows.

For TV I really should stick to my idiot-proof, all GS, no inc. or dec. blanket.