Category: The Red River Wrap

I use a lot of lace patterns in my designs because they look beautiful, and they’re fun and interesting to work. Unlike plain stockinette or garter stitch, there is always something happening! A yo here, a k2tog there, a k3tog followed by a yo2, etc. Lace patterns have a lot going on, which means there are a lot of opportunities for making mistakes. Fortunately, yarn over (yo) mistakes are pretty easy to fix, if you catch them within a row or two of making them. The photos below show how to fix a yo in the wrong place, and how to add a yo where one is missing.

First, compare your knitting to the pattern. In this photo there is one extra yo and one missing yo on Row 7, the last RS row. One WS row has been worked since the mistakes were made, so the mistakes are 2 rows below the stitches on the needle.Work in pattern until you reach the extra yo. There’s no need to rip out whole rows for a tiny mistake like this!

Drop the extra yo off the needle. That’s it! The yarn over isn’t connected to the stitches below it, so it will only unravel to the row where it was made. There will be a little extra yarn where the yo used to be, but you can usually wiggle the slack along the row until it disappears. In this case we’ll need that extra yarn to create the missing yo.

This is where the yo should be. If you pull the needles apart a little you can see the 2 strands that are going to form our yo. It looks a lot like the one we just took apart.

First, pick up the lower strand

and place it on the left needle.

Then pick up the strand that was above it and place it on the left needle. The strand from 2 rows below is on the left and the strand from 1 row below is to the right of it.

Lift the first strand over the second

and off the needle. Now the yo is right where it’s supposed to be!

The mistakes are fixed and the knitting matches the chart again!

Further reading and resources

Twist Collective – The Error Of Our Ways: A Knitter’s Guide To Fixing Mistakes

Very Pink – Correcting Mistakes

Thank you for knitting!

I finished knitting the Red River Wrap about a week ago, washed it, blocked it, and photographed it. I spent a few hours yesterday working on the pattern layout and then sent it to my tech editor. She’ll find all my mistakes and send it back to me for another revision. I’ve revised the pattern five or six times already, so it’s nearly there. My test knitters have given me loads of helpful feedback and found a lot of my mistakes.

I took pictures next to the Red River over the weekend using my usual setup; tripod, remote viewfinder, and yours truly modeling. It was windy and bright that day, but I managed to get a few good shots when the clouds passed over the sun. I spent a few hours yesterday editing them, and I still need a few more detail shots for the pattern.

So, the knitting is done, but there is still a bit more work to do before the pattern is ready. The next meeting of the Tribe of Maker Mornings is April 26th, and it looks like the pattern will be ready to publish by then! Did I mention that I am really happy with the way it turned out? The yarn from Manos Del Uruguay is gorgeous, and was delightful to work with which is a good thing, because I used a lot of it! almost 2 full skeins, or about 900 yards. The shawl looks just the way I wanted it to. You can clearly see the rows of pine trees, the chevrons of the water, and the Herringbone pattern of the bricks.

Be sure to sign up to my mailing list to be notified when the pattern is released, and to receive a discount coupon!

Thank you for knitting!

When I moved to central Louisiana almost three years ago I didn’t know anyone except my partner and his friends, and although they were all very nice, none of them were knitters. He knew I would be happier if I had some friends of my own, so he asked around and found The Red River Stitchers, a group of knitters and crocheters who meet at the local college every week. He sent me off to my first knit night with them like a kid going to a new school, he even made sure I had a bag of chocolates to share “so they will know you’re a real knitter.”

Those ladies have since become my dearest friends. They encouraged me to publish my first pattern, the Madeline Shawl, and whenever I’m having trouble with a project they lend me the confidence I need to go on. I call them my PR team and they refer to me as their designer! To show my appreciation for this wonderful group of ladies I wanted to design a simple rectangular shawl pattern and call it the Red River Wrap. The name was the easy part, but coming up with a pattern took a bit longer. It wasn’t until recently that I knew what the Red River Wrap would look like.

One of my knitting friends is a member of The Tribe of Maker Mornings, a group of artists and manufacturers here in Cenla who meet four times a year to share their enthusiasm for making good stuff. I went to my first meeting last week, which happened to be the sign-up meeting for 100 Days of Making, a challenge to all makers to spend 100 days making something and sharing the process with the group. I signed up to design, knit, and publish a pattern for the challenge, without having any idea what the pattern would be. I would think of something.

When I left the meeting, I crossed the brick streets in downtown Alexandria to the Red River, and looked across at the city of Pineville. I drove home thinking about the project, and spent a few days charting, sketching, and swatching. I chose stitch patterns that reminded me of the trees of Pineville, the brick work of Alexandria, and the churning waters of the Red River. Finally, I wrote this this proposal and sent it to a yarn company to ask if they would supply the yarn for the project. They generously agreed, and I received two lovely skeins of Manos del Uruguay Fino in my mailbox. The colors reminded me of Mardi Gras, and I knew what the Red River Wrap would look like.

Aside from Boring Gray Socks, everything I’m knitting right now is secret, so I’m excited to have a project I can actually share! First I’ll write the pattern, layout the charts, and swatch until I’m happy with my fabric, then I’ll knit the sample. After I have knitted and photographed the sample, I’ll send the pattern with pictures to a tech editor and I’ll find 5 to 10 test knitters. The tech editor checks to make sure that my math is correct and the charts agree with the written directions. Test knitters might find those types of errors too, but I rely on them to make sure I have a pattern that other people can follow easily. Once they have spotted all my mistakes and I’ve revised the pattern, it’s ready to publish and it will be for sale in my Ravelry Pattern Store.

You can follow the progress of all the makers on Instagram with the #100dayscenla hashtag. Thank you for knitting!