My trick for knitting error problems

Recently I have widened my knitting repertoire to some simple lace patterns. Knitting and watching TV is OK as long as the pattern is easy, the hands can almost work on autopilot. The problems start when you ought to add and lose stitches, and sometimes a stitch is lost a couple of rows back before you notice the mistake. Earlier I used to lose my nerve too and unravel everything and take an easier pattern. Then I found that I could unravel the knitting past the mistake and to a recognizable row of the pattern. I hated having to do that too. Having two socks on the same long circular needle added to my disappointment.

A while back I had the idea of dropping some stitches around the wrong stitch all the way to the mistake and usually I could find a plain knit row below it. I picked those stitches on a double pointed needle, like here. I have gone three rows down as you can see from the three loops of yarn.

Then I just knitted the missing rows, not in the round but back and forth, purling the plain rows on the wrong side and knitting the pattern on the right side, using the loops of yarn I unpicked.

And here it is, all stitches in their right places, and it only took a moment to correct it. I don't know if this is a well known way of doing it, but I have not seen it anywhere but invented it myself in the spring.

I have started a new quilt with my very own pattern, and learning from my mistakes. Yellow string strips

combined with blue ones, between scissor cut lines.

I wonder what becomes of all this!