Cozy

Hello knitters. I had an inevitable first on this project.

There was a mistake in the pattern (gasp!)

Now, it's not as if I didn't think such a thing could happen. I've seen corrections to patterns posted online.

I think I figured the odds were that it would never happen to me. I am a slow knitter after all, and I'm not going through dozens of patterns.

However, there I was, sitting struggling on my couch, wondering why my rib didn't look like the rib in the photo. I went down one needle size, then another.

I kept thinking there was something very wrong. Could it be a mistake? I didn't have the confidence to question Debbie Bliss, so I went back to the yarn store to buy new yarn.

I talked with staff in the store. We found different yarn, and I went home and tried again. Back I came a few days later with the book under my arm.

She looked up the pattern on Ravelry. She took a closer look at the pattern and the gauge instructions. She counted out stitches.

Then she said it.

There was a mistake in the number of stitches called for in the gauge swatch.

I felt so relieved. I also knew I could have figured this out myself had I summoned the confidence to question what was in print. I may not be an advanced knitter, but I have knit a coat after all.

I can't say I enjoyed this project. Maybe the initial struggle soured the experience, or maybe it was working with six strands of yarn.

I do feel a sense of satisfaction, however, when I look at these leg warmers. Satisfaction beyond having knit something for O.

I persevered, and I am a tiny bit of a better knitter for having done so.