When Emma was visiting a few months ago, we went to the Unravel Festival of Yarn and  purchased the yarn for her to knit the Field Shawl, by Maxim Cyr. Here is a photo of her wearing the sample at the festival:

A few days ago, I get a call from Emma.  She has started the shawl and she is upset.  “Mom, there is a little bump of colour showing up where it shouldn’t be. I can’t figure out why it’s there. I have already ripped the whole thing out and re-knitted multiple times. It is still there. It is annoying me. Here, I will send a photo.”

She sends us the above photo and Doug and I look at it.  “I am not seeing anything, Emma. What do you mean?”

Emma says: “Enlarge the photo, Mom. See? It’s like a pixel.”  Aha. Here is what Emma is referring to:

We talk about the nature of knitting, that a knit stitch on the one side causes a bump on the reverse side.  Emma is not having it; this pixel doesn’t correspond to a grey knit stitch on the other side. I spend some time trying to convince Emma that this is nothing, that she shouldn’t worry about it.  Her knitting is so beautiful and neat. The shawl will be gorgeous, etc. 

Emma says: “Mom, I have been looking at all of the photos of finished projects on Ravelry and none of them show these pixels.  I must be doing something wrong.  Why is this happening? I want to understand the process.”

We hang up. I immediately start systematically checking Ravelry project photos and find one that also has identical pixels, clear as day (but only if you are squinting and searching for them). I send her the photo. Hahaha!

The next day, Emma calls. She is annoyed with her increases.  They don’t look neat.  She has already ripped out and re-knitted the beginning of the shawl multiple times, but she wants it to be perfect. I said “Have you tried kfb?” Emma decides to rip it out (again!) and try kfb.  I counsel her not to rip, but to start a new piece using kfb, and then compare.

Last night, Emma calls up and she has now knitted a new beginning of the shawl, like a swatch, in which she has tried multiple increase options for each section – kfb, m1l, m1r, place the increase 1 stitch in from the i-cord, etc.  You can see the photos of both pieces, front and back, below. 

We then spent an hour debating each section.  Which has the neatest looking increase?  Which is easier to do?  Which produces a better i-cord?  What increase produces the most pleasing shaping? And yes, are there any pixels popping up?

I tell Emma that she doesn’t need to be worried at this level about her work, because all of the options are good. (Also, she has figured out how to run the mohair thread up the side through the i-cord, so no threads to end off. Big win!)  Doug then helpfully points out that I have spent the evening systematically tinking back my current knitting project (360 stitches to the row) because I had made a completely unnoticeable mistake some rows back.

Emma says “See, Mom, this is evidence that I was clearly not switched at birth by the hospital.”  As if we needed evidence, when she is a living, breathing  “Doug mini me”. (Seriously, though, isn’t her knitting lovely?)

Tomorrow I’m heading to Edinburgh to attend the Wooly Good Gathering. Maybe I will see some of you there?