Dude, I needed more coffee

Yesterday was a rest day from running. I used the time to knit. I’m calling it “The Minimalist Raglan.” That name could change later.

I’m not using a pattern, just making it up as I go and keeping the numbers and measurements in my head. Except, my head is failing me.

I was happily knitting and watching a recording of the Boston Marathon, and I made a lot of progress on the sweater. I was in a great mood, sitting with my feet up, knitting and eating banana bread.

I got past the waist decreases and on to the hip increases. I felt kind of smug that everything was going so well. Then, I realized I had miscalculated the decreases.

Even without the help of a calculator, I know that 2 decreases x 2 sides does not = 2 decreases. I know, for a fact, that it = 4 decreases. It has always been 4. It always will be 4. 2 x 2 = 4. It does not equal 2. And, of course I did several decrease rounds, so the mistake was multiplied each time.

Does that mean the error grew exponentially? Well, anyway, I need a calculator for anything beyond 2 x 2 (which = 4).

My sweater was 2 inches narrower than I had planned. I could have worn it that way. It would have looked fine as long as I was always sucking in my stomach and standing at a certain angle. But, that's more work than just re-knitting.

I ripped it back and started again. After four rows, I noticed I was increasing instead of decreasing. And, it’s been that kind of a knitting day today, too. I have a picture of the sweater before I ripped it, but why waste the bandwidth posting it.

When I told this story to my mom, she laughed and laughed. She’s also a knitter.