Some of you may know about the knitting life line. It's a strand of yarn (excess from another project) that you thread along the row on the needle. It basically goes against the needle. This way, if you mess up a few rows later, you can pull out your work, but it will stop at the yarn (life line) and you can easily put the needles in again without worrying about dropping a stitch or twisting one the wrong way. Normally these life lines are used in lace patterns.

However, I'm using it for the Big Lebowski sweater. Being a newbie to color work, it takes me 15-30 minutes to knit one row. I wouldn't want to have to go to my local knitting shop every time I messed up. With foresight, I had used a lifeline right before the complicated colorwork--and I needed it today. After spending 45 minutes on a row and a half, I realized that I had miss counted and messed up my ribbing (purl vs. knit). Being a perfectionist, I quickly prayed that I had threaded my life line correctly, and pulled out my work.

And it worked! I didn't drop one stitch. Not wanting to have to use that life line again, I adjusted my strategy. Instead of counting the small boxes each time, I took a piece of paper to cover the part of the chart I wasn't using, and I wrote the number of each color for that row. That gave me the ability to focus only on knit/purl and counting the number I had written. Thirty minutes later, I knit the first two rows of the complicated color work perfectly and stress-free. I'm hoping to do at least 10 rows today.

Pictures to come!

Happy knitting!