Silly mistake #486

Sometimes it seems to me that the entirety of a knitting life must involve careening from one knitterly mistake to the next.  Some are not so silly--a consequence of pushing the envelope of one's skills, trying a new technique or stitch; some are GALLING--how many times while following a pattern for something knit in the round have I read the admonition to join, taking care not to twist stitches?  And yet....

Well, last week's silly mistake was on the order of the latter.  I started a sleeveless child's frock using a variation of the Chinese Lace pullover I've been working on.  I had gone back and forth on which yarn to use:  Classic Elite's Provence in Japanese Lilac (also used for this project), at around 5 sts per inch, or diVe Cotone Egitto (which I'm using for the Chinese Lace pullover) in cream, at around 6 sts per inch?  I cast on 242 sts and worked for several inches before I realized that, while I had calculated the number of stitches for the Cotone Egitto, I had at the last minute decided to use the Provence--meaning this baby was going to be four or five inches too large in circumference.

If I had had a 6-year-old girl handy, I might have just kept going, but I only have a 3 1/2-year-old, and she (my lovely granddaughter*) is only visiting for another week.  Not wanting to start over, I decided instead to cut out 2 pattern repeats.  So on the next round I put the first 2 pattern repeats on some waste yarn.  I worked two more rounds, skipping the held stitches, and then, using sewing thread, I hand-stitched up and down the rows, a couple of stitches away from where I would cut out the extra piece, trying to make sure I caught all those slippery cotton strands.      

Did  I mention that this was my first steek?  Here it is after cutting; luckily, all of the strands held firmly.  I then seamed as I normally would, from the right side, and below is the result:  not bad, not bad at all.  Of course it's a different story when viewed from the wrong side, even though I trimmed the yarn ends as closely as I dared, and will flatten the seam forcefully when blocking. 

This episode did make me realize something:  while I'm happy to give the finished dress to my granddaughter, and chose the size so that it would fit her, it is first a pattern prototype, and second a gift.  If the gifting was the first priority, I would have taken a deep breath, frogged and started over.  Is that kind of sad?  I'm still trying to decide.

STILL coming soon--okay, realistically I have to say sometime in August--the pattern for the Chinese Lace pullover.

Ummm...in a moment of masochistic math geekiness, I just calculated the total number of stitches needed to make the sample for my pattern (due in September) for Big Girl Knits 2:  at 49 inches around and 22 inches long, with three-quarter length sleeves, at a ball band gauge (eep! I haven't even made a swatch yet!) of 23 sts/30 rows per 4 inches, or 43 1/8th sts per square inch, I got...58,908 3/4 stitches.  Dear Lord.  I feel faint.  Better make that August or September for Chinese Lace.   

*Vanity compels me to add that while I am, strictly speaking, old enough to be a grandmother, Caroline is the daughter of my husband's daughter from a previous marriage.