My current project, Kadril, has my knickers in a Twist.
I have been knitting along on it for weeks now. I bought extra yarn since I feared that I would run out. I meticulously tracked the chart repeats (the center chart is 76 rows, the border chart is 10) and I was really enjoying this simple garter lace scarf.
But when I approached what I though was the middle of the project, the little voice in my head (the one that likes math and balance and rules and tells me to stop looking at fleece for sale) started to tell me that things were not adding up and that the two charts were not as well aligned as they should be.
So I spent over an hour checking my work and counting the rows yet to knit. This verified that the edge chart would not end up where it should and that would make it impossible to miter the corners correctly.
So I emailed the tech editor at the Twist Collective. I pointed out the error, said that I also saw a small charting error in the beginning of the pattern (that one did not cause the other error) and that I would likely knit an extra chart repeat of the center (plus two plain rows) and if I lived through the extra 78 rows of knitting, I would be able to finish the scarf and end up with a longer, but balanced piece of lace.
I also pointed out that this was the third Twist pattern that I found errors in and I asked if they test knit any of the patterns before publication. This was the reply:
First, thank you for your support of Twist Collective. We appreciate
your purchase of this pattern and want you to enjoy knitting and wearing
this lovely shawl.
You are right - the border charts do end 2 rows
short of the end of the center chart. I will send a note to the
designer and see how she wants to correct this error. For the purposes
of finishing your shawl, I don't think adding another repeat of the
center panel will bring the parts into alignment. The center panel
repeats over 76 rows, while the border repeats over 10 rows. Adding
another repeat of the center panel will end your border in the middle of
a repeat. If it were my project, I'd probably rely on the inherent
flexibility of the knitted fabric and work a couple of short rows in the
center section to balance the pattern without working additional border
rows.
On your second question, you are also right that the chart
does not show the slipped stitches on the straight edge of the border.
In the pattern notes, there is a note that edge stitches are to be
slipped, but I can see how not indicating this in the chart could be
ambiguous. I'll see that this get's corrected.
Finally, no, most of
our patterns are not test knit. For Twist, like for most magazines and
other publications, the cost of test knitting every design is simply
prohibitive. While an individual designer sometimes chooses to have
their design test knit at their own expense, the magazine does not.
Thanks for bringing these issues to our attention. And thanks again for knitting with Twist Collective.
Short Rows?!? Really? Just throw them in somewhere? I don't think so. I'll knit the extra 78 rows and not worry about something rebelling against "the inherent flexibility of the knitted fabric" once I block and unpin this spendy cashmere scarf.
But I won't be happy. I think that when you pay $6 for a pattern, that it should be as error free as possible and that in this case, 10 minutes with a calculator would have found the error and that it could have been fixed in the beginning of the charts. I also think that designers should have their work test knit before any publication, especially when the pattern will be sold on it's own as opposed to a magazine that gives you a collection of patterns for much less than $6 or $7 a piece.
I would also like to point out that another knitter finished this scarf a few months ago and that in her project notes, she thinks that she made a mistake and ended up the two rows off. That's a shame, knitting should be successful and confidence building, the vision we have when we match yarn to pattern should be attainable, our time and the cash we spend on patterns should not be wasted or full of preventable drama.
Anyways, I have replied to Twist and asked for my $6 back. I'll let you know if I hear from them.
In other news, I finished a little fill in spinning. These batts:
(Sock batts from Funky Carolina SW BFL/SW Merino in Like a Canary)
Into this yarn:
No spinning today though, I was busy photographing a Niebling and picking through the corriedale fleece. Gary and Griffin spent most of the day working Open House at school. Griff was asked to be a tour guide (they rarely ask Freshman), he looks so grown up:
His braces come off tomorrow, I'll get a real smile in a few days.
* The scarf has a star motif in the center section.
