Throw me a lifeline!

For my first socks of 2018 I'm knitting Winwick Mum's easy lace socks using Cascade 220 4 ply sock yarn in the colourway grape juice. It's such an accurate name for this yarn! It's just so purple and reminds me of the really synthetic grape juice I used to drink when I lived in Chicago. I was only eight at the time but that memory really sticks for some reason. Anyway, let's turn back off memory lane. And onto the learning bus! As the saying goes - you learn something new everyday.

This was the beginning of my lovely sock on Tuesday. The sun was shining and making the purple look very purple indeed. Lovely.

Aaaand this was Friday night. Disaster! I've never done lace and thought smugly, well the cables weren't too bad, let's just crack on with a bit of lace! No no no.....

The Winwick Mum easy lace sock pattern is actually easy. And her tutorials come with videos and written instructions. But don't start a new technique while watching QI on a Friday night. I guarantee you won't pay attention and your 64 stitch sock will start getting smaller. Erk... So what happened I hear you ask? Well apparently I can knit two together followed by a yarn over. Tick! But then came the slip slip knit followed by a yarn over. Nope! I just couldn't do it. A while ago I posted about the large-ish holes I was getting on the SSK side of the heel flap and gusset on socks (see here). And here comes the learning - I've been doing it wrong! No surprises there... But the silver lining is I learnt to SSK properly not just for this lace pattern but for all future socks. Winning!

And what else did I learn? You may have guessed from the title of this post. The importance of putting a lifeline into knitting especially in patterns which are difficult to frog/ rip back. I started my sock again.

At the end of the ribbing I put a lifeline in. It's recommended to put a strong thread that's slightly thinner than the yarn and strong enough to last during a potential frog. I used some bright yellow sewing cotton doubled and threaded it through using a needle.

I found the needle was a bit sharp and split the yarn so I used the eye end instead. Mind your fingers! I knit a few stitches at a time and then threaded the cotton through those stitches. It was really easy to do and will save you any heartache if you do make a mistake. Admittedly this is a straightforward lace pattern but this will be really useful for future projects as well. 

It's not very visible but here's the completed lifeline. And below after two lace repeats.

And that's all there is to it! You can put as many lifelines in as you like such as after every two repeats or more or less depending on how confident you're feeling. 

Have you got any other tips and tricks to save your knitting?

Have a lovely Sunday x