Even a simple knitting pattern demands precision

"SSSShhhhtz," I hissed over the seed stitch row I was working for my version of designer Sally Melville's L'Envelope.

"What?" asked a fellow Knerdy Knitter.

"I got off on my stitches and I'm going to have to back up."

"Oh, you're tinking!"

I looked up blankly.

"Tinking -- knitting spelled backwards," she said.


Seed stitch is hardly lace. It's a simple repetitive pattern of knit a stitch, purl a stitch one row, then purl over the knit stitch and knit over the purl stitch the following row. It creates a wonderful bead-like texture that is perfect for the hand-dyed teal yarn, I'm using.

But if you mess up, you end up with ribbing. It's very obvious in the precisely aligned columns of seed stitch.

It's teaching me the beauty of precise knitting. The regularity of the pattern is merciless in spotlighting errors. It humbles me into ripping out and fixing.  There's too much time, money and beauty in this project to turn a blind eye.

But tinking out several rows quickly also teaches you to scan your work often to catch the errors early.

It's a reminder of a lesson I've stumbled over before. Creative projects have both an inspired, expressive free side and a technical, disciplined side. The best photographs are made by those who understand f-stops and shutter speeds. The best paintings are done by those who have learned to draw.

The best knitters I know are those who are so on-point technically that their work drapes and flows and delights as a whole without any component calling attention to itself -- especially not misaligned stitches in a simple, repeating pattern.