Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith

What do you do when you realize you made a mistake 8 rows ago? If it's plain one color knitting, it's no biggie, you just get angry at yourself, frog to that point, fix the mistake and forget about it. Lace knitting, well, that's something else, but still fixable as there's only one thread, after all.

But what do you do when you realize you made a mistake 8 rows ago when working intarsia, with 3 twists of colors per row, which makes it 24 twists with VERY catchy yarn total?

First, you panic. Then you go into state of denial, convince yourself it will not be visible after blocking as you can even it out. You knit some more, trying not to listen to the tiny voice in your head telling you that it will be visible no matter what you do. 6 rows and 18 twists later you realize it's not just a mistake, it's a mistake next to a buttonhole and then it's really crucial that 2 fronts match. And that you could live with it if you were making it for yourself but you aren't and the "every handmade item should have a mistake"-excuse does NOT apply. You curse the tiny voice in your head for not insisting harder, you take a deep breath and ... you take the needles out.

You start ripping it out, row by row, 49 stitches, 3 twists per row, 14 rows. People on the train stare at you AND the growing, tangled mess on your lap. You try to keep a poker face, but the only thing you think of is: "How on Earth will I EVER untagle this???".

You try to remember what Hélène said about it on her blog and you realize that if you start winding tiny center-pulled balls on your thumb right now, people will be 100% sure you're insane. One option then: just pick up stitches and start knitting. Luckily there's plenty of time left on the train.

And then somehow, after you've knitted a couple of rows you notice that the mess is getting smaller, the threads are not tangling even more, but on the contrary, coming out nicely. And by the time you reach your destination nothing is left of the mess except a couple of twists.

A leap of faith is all it takes sometimes.