You Can Teach An Old Knitter A New Trick

Sunday night, my intention was to  try on my Creative Top-Down.  The Oscars however, kept me glued to my chair.  Instead,  I decided to  do some knitting that didn't require leaving the chair to put on a bra or get the tape measure.   I chose to repair the curling neckline.

My normal approach to a repair like that would be to snip a stitch at the bottom of the neckline and  unpick the work to unravel it back (in this case upwards) to the beginning.    Then I would pick up the newly-freed stitches and re-knit a new neck trim.

But last night,  because I didn't want to leave my chair to get the scissors,  I simply wove the needle in and out  (or over and under, depending on how you see it)  the legs of the stitches at the base of the neckline.    I could  get the scissors and cut out the old trim during a commercial break. 

My plan was  to knit three rows of  K1,  P1  ribbing then a row or two of stockinet in the contrast colour. This would give me an unobtrusive neck trim that finished with  a small rolled edge.  The commercial break came after one row of ribbing and I laid down the knitting to grab the scissors.  When I next looked at the neckline, it wasn't rolling.  Flat as a  pancake.

 

Was it the pickup at the base that did it?  The one row of ribbing?  I don't know but  enjoying this new trick. I cast  off and laid it out for the night.  

Still flat today, this old knitter has learned a new trick.  I wonder if the fix of picking up at the base and working one row of ribbing  would work for vertical edges too. I have a couple of those curlers
that need taming. 

Is it the neckline I envisioned?  No.  Is it a neckline I can live with?  I'm not sure.  With the original cast on and  row of ribbing in the contrast colour, followed by three rows of ribbing in the main colour, and now completed by  a base of picked up stitches and row of ribbing also in the contrst colour, it is a bit more heavy-duty that my vision.  I might yet  take it out and re-do it to match my vision.

 But whether it stays or whether it goes, I have learned a new trick.  I am now envisioning where else I might use this trick.  This knitter is happy.