Blog Archive

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Not so Blissful

Okay, seriously. I give up. I thought it was just me. I thought I was not paying close enough attention. I thought maybe it was a blonde thing. I thought maybe it was a British thing. I thought maybe I'm just a little bit stupid. But I CANNOT figure out the pattern for Debbie Bliss's Diagonal Front Jacket!


I have cast on, knit the whole first PAGE of the pattern and it never lines up properly. Once I had the wrong number of stitches (fine, blonde and a little bit stupid). Once I was doing the M1 stitch wrong (lost in translation? Maybe a British thing). So I looked it up in Ms. Bliss's How to Knit book. Corrected that problem. But still, can't get it right. And I've been trying, on and off, for over a year now.


So yesterday, while baby napped, I cast on for the 10 millionth time and tried again. I was sitting in a good chair with good lighting. I had no distractions. I counted everything THREE times. Considering the cast-on is 247 stitches this was a LOT of counting. I was extra-super-duper careful. And still it didn't work. I think I figured out WHERE the problem is, so I looked online for any reference to errata. Nothing. Here is someone who clearly was able to handle the pattern. She even played with it and made it her own. Not me. Can't even get past the first section of the pattern. For the record, I CAN make the sleeves work. But what good are sleeves without a body?

What is more frustrating is that, while I love photos of Debbie Bliss's patterns I have yet to find a single one that I can follow without difficulty.

I tried making these:












Worked fine except for the heel. Came out FULL of holes and a total mess. Had to go back to Cat Bordhi and Debbie Macomber to finish them at all.
I tried many of the bear patterns in her teddy bear book. Issues with all of them. Have had trouble with a few of the "beginner" baby sweaters too. Must be just me. Seriously. There is a Debbie Bliss Knit-a-long for heaven's sake. I can't imagine that many people looking to be frustrated on purpose.
Yes, must just be me. So I have frogged the project for the last time and have repurposed the yarn for a new wubby for the boy. He is rapidly wearing out the current blanket and will need a new one before I know it. I'm using my favourite pattern for my favourite guy. I guess I'm just meant to find my bliss elsewhere :)

2 comments:

Charity said...

Oh, that is soooo frustrating! Don't worry, I think we've all been there at one time or another...

Anonymous said...

Hi, so this is March 2013, and I just read your blog, and I SO HEAR U! I am ready to pitch the whole thing, can't make it work, with all those turns and I have no mind picture to spur me on. Like u, I also did the sleeves, and like u, they are useless until I can make this work. So tell me, what happened, did u win? And hey, if u cashed in your kneedles I am okay with that too. Get back to me, thanks, I would luv to hear the end of your story. Your twin in knitting Pat