math fail

[wyomingnot]

Ever spend entirely too long working on a sock heel only to discover it's not right... then rip it all out and start it over only to discover it's still not right... rip it out again.. count, re-count... only to discover it's not working because 14 x 3 is not 52, it's only 42?

*headdesk*

Still have ten more rows to go before it's heel time.

*facepalm*

Here's wishing y'all better luck with your knitting tonight.

Comments

[willidan]

Never made a sock, but I usually have to start a large project over and over and over and over. Honestly, on average, I start over a new project at least three times.

[wyomingnot]

I don't usually have a big problem with having to rip out... most of the time when I find boo-boos they're either minor enough to let go, or just a stitch off, so I can just make one or decrease one. :)

The heel was going really well, I think that's what's most frustrating about it.

[evilawyer]

You described my last night to a tea ***goes off to ponder yet again where three stitches got to***

[wyomingnot]

Ouch! One stitch, maybe two, can be dealt with easily enough. But three? Good luck with that!

[evilawyer]

Thanks. I'm going to need it.

[minxy]

42 is the answer to everything!

...actually, I'm commenting to say I ripped back two inches last night on a sock, reknitted an inch and a half out of stubbornness, and am knitting on a different project tonight (shark mitts ftw!)

I hope it turns out well!

[wyomingnot]

Alas, 42 isn't the answer to 'how many stitches do you need before doing the short-row heel?'

Two inches? Ouch. I'm doing two-at-a-time on one circular needle. It's a fun challenge, in general. :)

Shark mitts? Cool!

[medicalmouse]

Haha, definitely done that more times than I can count (er, pun not intended!). Of course, it's extra fun when you do that a few times, then realize the fourth time it happens that no, wait, it really is a math error in the pattern this time!

[wyomingnot]

Actually, the first thing I did was hit up the pattern on Ravelry to see if anyone else who'd done it mentioned anything. Alas, no. The problem comes from the fact that I count in threes. If I just counted one-by-one... bah.

[jenna_thorn]

My husband has given me wierd looks because when I'm doublechecking (and never the first time, no, I only check myself *after* having to tink) I'll count in threes, then turn right around, even if I get the right count, and count again in fives. If I get the same answer twice, I'm good to go. It's particularly silly looking when the count is short, like to 16 or something.

I think it was Beadslut taught me that trick, though, I can't claim it for my own.

[aedifica]

I do the recounting too, though not usually threes and fives particularly. That's a good idea, though.

But this comment is mainly to say I looove your icon.

[jenna_thorn]

A friend who crochets sent me that when she found it on LJ. 8-) I used to have a lovely one with a ball of purple yarn shaped like a heart, but really and honestly?
This one's more appropriate most of the time.

[wyomingnot]

That is an *awesome* idea! Thank you for sharing! :)

[jenna_thorn]

I miscount a lot, so I've developed a lot of tricks to help. I'm one of those people who pulls out a calculator for 8x7. Or says out loud, "Okay, 7x7 is forty nine so 50,51,52 ..."

[hugh_mannity]

I count in 3s and recount in 2s.

Works like a charm. Except when it doesn't. Then I count in 1s. If that doesn't work, I start swearing in foreign languages.

[aunty_marion]

Frequently. Or something similar, at least. I have on occasion turned a heel, on an even number of stitches, counting carefully as I went along, only to end up with an ODD number of stitches. I gave up and increased or decreased one in the middle to get the count right on the first row after the heel, I think.

[wyomingnot]

Yeah, at least with just being one off you can fake it. ;)

[starfish]

The reason I started TAAT socks was because I knit about two inches too far on a foot of a second sock and had to tink back (I was askeered of just frogging it). It was not a pleasant experience.

[wyomingnot]

Ouch! I'm going taat because I am tired of second sock syndrome. Plus, yeah, everything matches up right when you're doing it at the same time. :) (well, except the heel. But since it's one right after the other...)

[jenna_thorn]

that was the appeal for two at a time for me, too. It may be wrong, but at least they are wrong in the same way.

[wyomingnot]

Bingo.

[aedifica]

My current challenge is in the shawl I'm knitting--I'm quite a ways into it and it's been going well, but this row has such a different stitch pattern than any of the rest of it so far that I keep forgetting yarnovers, having to undo my work back to where the yarnover should have been, knit forward, discover I missed the very next yarnover, undoing my work back to there...

[wyomingnot]

I've got a shawl on the needles too. My first. I don't notice the missed yarnovers until things go wrong two rows later. tink-tink-mfing tink. I know about lifelines, but for some reason I'm rather resistant to actually doing them.

[aedifica]

This one has an 8-stitch repeating pattern, and I do have stitch markers in for each pattern repeat, so at least it's just a matter of going back and counting: ...yep, that one's eight... eight... dammit, that one's seven. *tink tink tink*

Once this row is finished it'll switch to an easier pattern, at least. Good luck with your shawl! What one are you doing?

[wyomingnot]

I'm doing the petal shawlette from the sock yarn one skein wonders book.

[aedifica]

Pretty!

[moonbathe_skin]

I decided to learn spiral stitch so I would not have to do heels!! OY!! The first sock was wide like a hat and the second one was like a tube of pasta!!