A HOLE. :deep breath:
It looks like something snagged the yarn, and broke it. It's not large - maybe 3 stitches worth, and, luckily, it's in the seed stitch portion.
Unluckily, it's in the seed stitch portion.
I know a lot of ya'll have more experience than me. I am a pretty fearless knitter - I cut the foot off of a sock to fix the heel, for pete's sake! - but this has really hurt me. I've never tried to fix seed stitch before, and I've NEVER had to try and repair something so.....involved. I don't wanna screw up this sweater - and I don't want the repair to be noticeable.
What's the best way to go about this?
I've got a couple of ideas:
1. Carefully unpick the bind-off, drop the stitches down, add a strand over the broken bit, and re-knit it up. (it's about...4" down. Or so.)
2. Run strands of yarn across the hole, carefully working them into the solid bit of knitting, then use a CSM needle to pick up the "dropped" stitches. When the hole is fixed, graft the last stitch to the first whole stitch.
3. Needle-knit the hole closed.
I'm thinking #3 is the best bet......but I'll have to really work to keep my knits and purls straight. No matter what, I'll steam the spot first - to "lock" the stitches in place. (I do this before I graft sock toes - it helps them to not run while you're trying to graft them close.) #1 has the potential to totally screw up this portion....the bind off is almost perfect. :sigh: #2 will be a bit messy where I graft the 2 live stitches together.
I'm NOT going to tackle this right now. I'm also NOT going to tell/show Sweet Geek....he'd get upset, and there's no reason for it. I can fix it, I know I can, but...how to best do it?
Help???