The agony and the ecstasy

I've been knitting on this adorable pleated skirt for our sweet little Buttercup. It's a little bit harder than my comfort zone and I've had to learn some new things, including knitting in the round, in order to make the pleats.

The first time I started it I got six rows done (approaching 2000 stitches) before I realized it was irreversibly twisted in spite of repeatedly making sure that it was not twisted. I had to pull it all out and start over. Oh, the agony...

I started over, however, and got quite a way along, making absolutely positively sure it wasn't twisted before I realized that I had dropped a stitch/made a mistake/blown it all somehow. Oh, the agony...

Instead of ripping it all out and starting over yet again, which I didn't really have the heart to do, I decided I might as well figure out how to fix knitting mistakes. Because this little skirt started out with more than 300 stitches per row and dozens upon dozens of rows, odds were good that I wasn't going to get through the whole thing without any more mistakes. It took me a few tries, and some worry, and a few more tries, but I fixed my mistake. Maybe not perfectly, and maybe not the exact right way that a more experienced knitter would do, but I can't find where the stitch was dropped/mistake was made/the whole thing was somehow blown. Oh, the ecstasy!

I've made a few more mistakes since then, and when I come across them, I fix them. I'm getting better at it. I've realized that whenever I see a hand-knitted item of clothing that the knitter probably didn't get through it without making any mistakes - she probably made some mistakes but she fixed them as she came to them. You don't have to be perfect the very first time, and it's a little bit crazy to start completely over if an error is repairable. Oh, the ecstasy!

I might be a real knitter when all of this is over. I never thought I would be. And for sure, our dear little Buttercup will have a very cute pleated skirt to wear this fall and next spring. I'm as proud as I can be about this skirt - I don't care if the pattern is labeled "easy" or not. Oh, the ecstasy!