Turning a flub into a feature, or trying to...

The first square I worked on I scaled up from a pattern for a cloth that should have measured 9" square.  To get it to 12" square, I added either 5 or 6 stitches to the seed stitch border on the right and left side.  But I forgot to compensate for needing additional rows of seed stitch at the bottom.  The pattern called for 6 rows and had an original side border of 4 stitches, so scaling up 4st/6 rows (2/3 ratio) to match a side border of about 10 stitches, I really should have worked 15 rows before starting the central pattern part of the pattern.

Why do I always photograph this upside down?

If I'd seen or thought of this immediately I would have worked more rows.  But I realized it after I was what seemed too many rows into the actual design.  (I completely disagree with that assessment now; would definitely have frogged back and avoided a lot of unsuccessful remedies and aggravation.)  

In the end I decided to put a narrow block of a cabled design at the top and bottom of the mis-bordered hearts square.  I started with the hugs and kisses cable (xoxo - technically that's oxox) and then wondered if there were heart cable patterns that I could use as well.  Found the excellent cabled hearts cascade pattern.  The cremation collar I was originally following for the xoxo cable is an inspired idea.  After a while I noticed it was a lot easier for me to follow and stick with the pattern when I was using a chart instead.  I was losing count of the rows trying to follow instructions line by line.  Just thinking about that I don't understand why the chart was easier; I just know that it was...

Oh!  The cabled hearts cascade is written for working in the round.  But my panel was knit flat.  To work the special stitch combinations on the wrong side rows I'd knit to them and then flip the work to the right side.  Originally I was considering the stitches in pairs, holding a loop of the working thread at the back and working the rightmost stitch first.  Then I woke up and realized I could work the left stitch if I slid the right one off to the right needle first.  Either way it worked fine, mostly because tightening up extra length of yarn from just one stitch away is easily done.  There are so many different symbols I printed out the instructions and color coded them.  I wanted to be sure that I was looking at the right instructions for the chart symbols each time.  (It doesn't take much to confuddle me.)  After a while, the symbols became pretty intuitive.

I'm suddenly feeling that I'm just as boring and repetitive here as I must be in person.  I have a feeling I explained this already and just don't remember it.  Apparently I didn't manage to take any photos of just the fix it panels themselves.  The color and texture of the entire square is difficult to capture with my camera.  The color never seems quite right, and the textured design tends to look like blobs rather than hearts.  And for reasons I can't even fathom I have a tendency to always arrange it upside down to take pictures.  Then looking at the photos I see the outside hearts in the top and bottom rows are upside down.  Time to stop for now.  I'm freakishly sleepy and there's no knowing what I might do without realizing it.