Denial is a river full of frogs

Today was one of those days when you remember that even an experienced knitter can mess up big time. In the past couple of years, I've knit a lot of things, and mostly they've gone well. But not this week.

I'm knitting the Ariann cardigan for my little cousin Rachel, and I had finished the body (knit in one piece) up to the armhole, the sleeves to the same point. I joined the sleeves and body and began knitting the yoke. The decreases looked a bit odd (not as much like the pattern as I thought they should), but this is my first time knitting this pattern, so I went along with it. Knitting denial had set in. I reached the point where the decreases for the neckline decreases begin.

Then in looking at the pattern, I realize that the pattern seems to indicate a lot of rows of decreases yet to come, with hardly any more rows in which to accomplish them. Dang pattern!!! But doubt creeps in. I'd found the knit-a-long thread on Ravelry and no errata were mentioned, and the designer is even there. The pattern is a pdf download that can be corrected quickly and easily.

With a bit of dread in my knitter's heart, I go back to the pattern, and realize that doing decreases "every RS row 6 times" is not the same as decreasing "every 6 rows 6 times."

And yes, those decreases started 7 inches back, just about to where those sleeves and body got connected. All the knitting I'd done during the Republican convention (yep, I'm blaming this on the RNC, why not?) had to be ripped out and done over. This is the biggest knitting mistake I've made in a couple of years.

So, with denial over, I ripped it out and am about 1/2 back up the yoke. Yes, it looks better and more like the pattern.