robknits: ужас! Adventures and woes - amended, suggestions please

My new sock blockers arrived. They are from an Etsy shop. Purple acrylic sock blockers, bought exclusively so that I can take decent pictures of newly knit socks.

Speaking of knitting, I succumbed to Startitis and the Lure of the Stash and started the MoonGarden Wrap with the very beautiful Brooks Farm Yarn Primero that has been in my stash since my very first visit to Maryland Sheep and Wool. Not only stash yarn but OLD stash yarn. I took off like a shot on this knitting, casting on beautifully the first time, and not getting at all confused with switching between the two different charts, until I got to the last line of the 16-line repeat, said to myself "Time to put in a lifeline" and promptly dropped a whole bunch of stitches. I am tinking back in an effort to not frog the whole thing but I have the feeling I will end up tinking back to the garter border. Oh well. I like the pattern, the lace charts are keeping me amused, and the yarn is so silky -- but, the dye is coming off on my hands. I did wonder at some point where the black streaks on my hands were coming from. Finally figured it out. When I finish the stole, I will talk to the Brooks Farm Yarn people about what to use to prevent futher dye loss -- maybe Retayne in the rinse water?

I also have been making considerable progress on the front band of Featherweight -- see? -- but ran into a stunning horrible surprise.

See? (Well, you will when I get a picture that shows the problem. Oh, here we go.)

First, from the knit side:

Now, from the purl side

Somehow, I managed to slip these stitches instead of knitting them, and I can't figure out how to repair that mistake. I think, I think, I may have to take out the bind-off at the bottom of the ribbing, and drop those stitches back, laddering them down (well, actually, up, since this cardi is knit from the top down). Anyone have another suggestion?

And can you believe it? A mistake like that on a stockinette sweater? And in a laceweight yarn, where nothing will be hidden. If I have to frog back, I will have to frog back almost 3 inches of the front band, as well as the bottom 3 inches of the cardigan. And I don't think this yarn will survive the effort. Quelle horreur!. Or as my Russian teacher used to say, ужас! * (I have no idea why that came into my head in Russian today, but it did. It means, well, quelle horreur!) Though for some reason, this problem has not cast me into the depths of despair as knitting project catastrophes usually do. I have liked knitting this cardigan, and in fact it was so angst-free that if this version dies, I can see creating a different one. Where I might even be able to knit the stockinette. Another possibility would be to play creatively -- i.e., finish this as-is, and then see how to disguise the mistake. My mother used to put butterfly appliques over stains on my clothes when I was a kid. Maybe a butterfly applique. Or use this very plain cardi to practice embellishments of various kinds.

See, no ужас .

*(Pronounced, more or less, oo-zhas, with the accent on the oo.)