Will I Ever Learn?

I'm pretty picky when it comes to my knitting. I just can't see investing all that time and effort into a project that I'm not going to love once it is completed. But, when I see that a project isn't working quite like I want, I tend to ignore that inner voice that is telling me that the project will not turn out.

After the Slip Stitch/Reverse Pinwheel Baby Blanket fiasco, one might think that I should have learned my lesson. I could save so much time (and heartache) if I would simply accept that if a project is not turning out how I would like, that I should simply rip it out and start over.

But no, I suffer from "let's just knit a few more rows and see how I like it," I see that my project isn't going right, but I'll invest more time into it to see if it magically improves. The more time I invest in the project, the more I decide to keep knitting on it to see if things improve, and the cycle continues. And yesterday, I did it again.

I cast on for a new project (ignoring the ones I have on the needles, actually finishing some projects might be a good New Year's goal for me), Encompass, a circle scarf designed by the Yarn Harlot. I decided to use a thinner yarn than the pattern called for, but made no other major changes. After finishing casting on, I looked at the stitches and my inner voice chimed in, "that's not going to be long enough, cast on another set of forty stitches." But, instead of heeding that inner voice, I decided to "knit a couple of rows to see how I like it."

So, I knit about ten rows and stopped to take a look and inner voice spoke up again, "It's too short, rip it out and cast on more stitches, like I told you before." And still, I decided, "Nah, I'll finish the first pattern repeat and see how I like it, its only seven more rows."

Seven rows later, I stopped and looked at the scarf, and inner voice said, "Well, look at that, it isn't getting any longer, RIP IT OUT AND START OVER!" At this point, it was getting late, so I figured I'd decide what to do in the morning (note: usually, late at night, taking a break from a project and getting some sleep would be a good idea, but I was iffy about this project from this morning on).

This morning, I picked up the project again. It had not magically grown overnight and was still to short. But what did I decide to do? Just knit a few more rows and see it I like it better. About three rows in, my inner voice was screaming at me, "START OVER, DUMBASS, START OVER!" I looked at the scarf, which I still felt was too short and decided to rib it out and cast on forty more stitches.

Seriously, I could have saved almost a full day's worth of knitting and had a much more productive inner dialog if I would have just listened to the inner voice right away. I should know by now, inner voice will prevail, if not today, tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, some day down the road, but it will prevail, the project will be frogged, and the sooner I accept that, the better.