WIP: Leaf Yoke Top

Let me just start off by saying that this top project has given me so much grief from the get-go. Such an easy and simple pattern, and yet, I've had so many issues with it. This is not due to the pattern in any way (although, it could have been a little more clear about which needle is which to use!), but more about me needing to be smart and needing to learn how read the pattern. This is also definitely not a good project to start when you are insanely sick to the bone. I had started this top at the start of that nasty cold that I had a little over a week and a bit ago. I had cast on and ripped up this top about 4 times - all of which were completely and utterly unnecessary and wouldn't have happened had I been well and not delirious with nasal congestion and pain.

The first time I cast on I had knitted up the yoke all the way to the halfway point of the leaf chart, then noticed (more like I was convinced I did something wrong 2 rows back!) that a stitch was off and instead of rationally thinking about it, decided to rip back a few rows. This would have been fine any other time, but since I was sick, sick, sick I somehow screwed up the rip and couldn't figure out how I was going to pick the stitches back up onto my needle. In my crazed state I simply thought it would be easier to rip apart the yoke and start the project over. Yes, a huge mistake indeed.

The second attempt went horribly beyond wrong, and I hadn't even finished knitting up the first round! So of course I ripped that attempt up. You'd think by now I would've just put the project down and save it for when I was feeling better. Typically, that's what a smart person would have done. Me, on the other hand, was being more stubborn than a mule and in my sleep deprived state was determined to get the project going. Even if it meant that I had to stay up all night! So in my groggy state of mind, I cast on for the third time and had knitted 6 rounds before realizing that I was missing a whole slew of yarn overs. Rip, rip, rip!! My fourth and final attempt just about had me committed. At the end of the second round I discovered that I had forgotten a yarn over, but was too tired and slightly miffed to start over. So I fudged it. 15 rounds later all was going well and I was thinking that this top was finally going to get knit up. Yes, I was getting ahead of myself, cause lo and behold, at the end of round 16 I noticed something did not seem right at the center back. Uh oh.

Not only had I missed one yarn over, I somehow managed to miss 2!! Now I was thoroughly pissed. Again, a normal, sane person would have walked away and save the project for another day, when the brain had a chance to relax and breath. Did I mention I am not a sane person?? I took a good 10 minutes trying to come up with a solution as to how I could remedy the problem without having to rip out the last 3 rows I had just knit. Did I mention that this was at 3am in the morning? Stubborn, I tell you. I opted to un-knit this time 'round rather than ripping out the rows. Yes, un-knitting is way more time consuming (since it involved ripping out your knitting one stitch at a time...and I had almost 200 stitches on my bloody needles!), but I was guaranteed to still have all the stitches on my needle. It's amazing what how one measly little stitch can completely and totally mess up everything!

Anyhoo, I got that bout of Starteritis a bit under control and even though there are a bunch of new projects started up, I've managed to work on this one for the majority of the time. I was really hoping that I would be able to get this finished and ready for blocking by the start of the weekend...that is until I tried on the top last night, something I should have done a hundred rows ago...cause the top ended up being a tad too tight!! Now, I could have left it as is, but then that would have meant that I would never be able to wear a bra with this top and I would have to shave my ribs a bit so that they weren't so pronounced. Yeah, I was definitely NOT happy. I sat there on the couch contemplating with tears welling up in my eyes while Brett unsuccessfully tried to console me. And you know what I ended up doing? I. Ripped. The. Whole. Body. Up. Yep, I'm that crazy. And not in that crazy like a fox way. More like need to be committed crazy way.

So I'm not really back at square one, I left the leaf yoke intact. It's the endless amounts of stockinette that I now need to re-do. But this time with a needle that's 2 sizes bigger than what I was using. All I can do now that I've had the chance to sleep on it and take another look with fresh(er) eyes is to shake my head and sigh. Deeply.

Sorry for the crap photos. The sun has gone MIA lately, except for yesterday but I had already taken the photos and was too busy to try to re-take them, and the cloudy, dull weather that we've been having in these parts aren't great for photo-taking. I still can't capture the true color of the yarn. For some reason my camera just doesn't want to pick up the lush, deep yet vibrant green-ous that it really is. This photo was taken a few hours before the rippage happened. But this is what the top should look like, or would have looked like.

Well, fingers crossed that with the bigger needle size and knowing what to do now, I'm hoping to get this finished over the weekend. Even though this yarn is machine washable (FYI: it's Knit Picks Comfy Worsted), I'm going to opt to handwash this top. For the first time in my knitting life I had knit a gauge swatch and thrown it into the washing machine, like I would have once it was knitted up, and then laid it flat to dry. If I hadn't done so I wouldn't have known that the yarn would shred up a little and the color would fade a bit. Overall, the top would have looked like crap after the first trip to the washing machine! Phew! I don't know what possessed me to change my ways for this project, but whatever it was just saved me hours and hours of hard work. This top will definitely be a lovely spring top, I'm not sure if it'll make it into the wardrobe rotation for the summer though. The knitted up fabric is slightly thicker than I what I was hoping for. But after all this stress and work, you better believe that I'll be wearing this lots!