April 19, 2003
Sweet Recovery
There really is a god. The lace dilemma on the Mourning Shawl has been repaired and although it could be slightly more perfect, I choose to leave it as it is, as a token to ward off further evil.
Pictures! they said,
more pictures! they cried
on the blog that you write
and so I complied...
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It's spring!
I have a theory about trips. That is, on every trip I will have forgotten to bring at least one thing. Maybe the forgotten item is hugely important or perhaps it is barely significant, it doesn't matter-- what matters is that I must know what I have forgotten as soon as possible into the journey. Only then can I relax and enjoy my trip! On my trip to WSU last weekend I forgot to bring a certain pair of shoes. It was not a big issue. But if I had forgotten to bring my suitcase, it would be far worse. Because I remembered the shoes within an hour after I left, I didn't have to worry the rest of the way.
Knitting this lace shawl is analogous to taking a trip. Now that I know there is a mistake in it (although it is hard to find) I am less likely to be paranoid about making a mistake. Isn't it interesting how your faults (and the admission thereof) can set you free?
Le question du jour:
Why do people choose to knit the things they knit?
How does this affect whether the product gets completed and the length of time to completion? Here are some answers I came up with, and my own opinions about how they rank. I'm interested in other opinions as well, because I'm just a curious sort of person!
I would rank the following reasons in this order.
- This Wine Barrel Modem design is exquisite! I simply must have it!
- Wow, that Princess Belle Delight would look fabulous on me me me!! It will make me look young and beautiful!
- Ann the Amazing Knitter knit that Blueberry Daffodil Waistcoat; I simply must do it too!
- Look at how beautiful this Homegrown Holy Shetland yarn is! I must knit this Country Charm Flying Pigs design because it calls for this yarn.
- "They" say the technique in this Double-Breasted Cabled Martini design is challenging-- I like to be challenged in my knitting!
- My wardrobe is lacking this One-Sleeved Belly Exposer with Matching Rhubarb Pi Shawl and it will not be complete without it.
- This Chart of the Radioactive Elements sweater is so different and unique, I just have to knit it.
- Fair Isle knitting is my favorite, and this Still Life With Mustard looks like a fun Fair Isle to knit.
- I'm feeling lazy. This Elegant Elephant sweater uses size 15 needles and only has 7 rows in it. I think I can actually remember the pattern, too! That's the one for me today!
- Yeah, I know that the 10-inch Fashionable Garter Fantasia isn't that useful, but hey! It's a quick knit.
- This Inner City Gang Cashmere and Silk Biker's Jacket with Lace Peplum may look odd to you, but it's what [a gift recipient] requested.
- There's just not much you can do with Gladiator's All-Purpose Yarn. The
only thing I can find that will use it is this Gore and Glitz cape, so I have to knit it. - [A well-meaning friend] gave me this hospital green Sequined Acrylic Nightgown kit and she would be offended if I didn't knit it.
- But honey, I got this Lumpy Tweed yarn (in color Muddy Gray with dull olive flakes) on sale for only $1.00 a skein (800 yards per skein)! I can't let it go to waste!
I think that the further down on this list that my reason for knitting something falls, the more likely it is that it will be either a longer-running wip or a UFO. How would you rank your own reasons for knitting something? Are there reasons that I've missed?
I've started a glossary of common terms used here in my blog, because of my observations on other blogs. That is, I really enjoy reading other people's blogs, but it's often hard to become adjusted to their environment-- who are these people to whom the author refers? What is the design they are working on? So I thought it might be helpful for new readers if I provided a shortcut method to lower the learning curve here. You'll have to let me know if its terribly annoying-- I'm linking the keywords to their glossary definition. That means that some of my links are to other urls, and some are to glossary terms. If I figure out how to differentiate them by color, I'll certainly do it.
Here's our new early warning system, good for letting us know that the ravens are crowing!
Yesterday Brad came up to the office to meet me for lunch, and I had a chance to introduce Sherlock to my co-workers. What an icebreaker a puppy is! People I had greeted in the halls for four years suddenly had an excuse to talk to me. I know many of you still don't believe it, but I am a private shy person by nature, unless I turn myself "on" for some specific reason (like a job interview or customer interaction scenario or to make someone else feel welcome and comfortable).
OK, I will whine - the one thing you didn't say is the one thing I want to know: Which fixing method worked out????
And, do you think that being 'more perfect' is like being 'more unique'? Sorry, I've always been a Word Nerd.
Either way I'm sure it's fine. And I think what you say is true because it is the same with the first ding on a new car - you can relax after that!
My reasons for knitting things are usually #1 and #8. However, #2 sometimes happens (although without the young and beautiful part, we must be realistic after all...), and also #4 in a modified fashion: "This pattern would work well with that beautiful Homegrown Holy Shetland in my stash, which I must knit with ASAP."
Posted by: CarolineF on April 19, 2003 06:50 PMPS Did you consider making the glossary a popup? It's very cute.
Posted by: CarolineF on April 19, 2003 06:51 PMSheila,
In your picture, there are two visible horizontal lines. I'm sure the lower line is the pickup, where you picked up the body stitches from the border. Is the second horizontal line perchance a lifeline?
I've heard lots of talk about the value of lifelines, but I must confess that I've never placed one. However, I have yet to start one of those Hazel Carter shawls that have yo's on every row (no plain knit or purl row in between).
Posted by: Lynne on April 19, 2003 11:26 PMHi Lynne,
No, the second row that you see is a couple of rows of garter stitch that is incorporated into the design to separate that one row of circles from the main body of the pattern. As it progresses, it will become more obvious what I'm talking about. But I do need to run a lifeline! I'm now waiting until I purl my next row, then I can run a contrasting thread through that.
The Hazel Carter shawls must demand constant attention. I'm sometimes in the mood for that, strangely enough it's often when I'm sick!
Caroline, I admit it, I'm a seriously silly person. It turned out that what must have happened is that when I *thought* I had dropped stitches originally, I hadn't really. But since I thought I had, I added a couple of stitches to "correct" it in the form of yarnovers. After I had had plenty of rest and caffeine and put the puppy elsewhere so that I could study the situation, I realized what had happened. I isolated the three stitches in question, ripped them out down to a known good row and used a steel crochet hook to very carefully pull them back up correctly. The slight mistake that I made was that I didn't actually get two stitches in the first row, and so one stretch of two stitches which should have contained two rows only contains one. I'll try to do a closeup so you can see what I mean.
Posted by: sheila on April 20, 2003 09:03 AMSheila - That little puppy looks like a miniature sheep in the picture by the petunias. Funny word - just last summer, my nephew called them penununias.
I think there is a way to do definitions with html...hm... let me look around and send you a link if I can find something.
Posted by: Mary on April 20, 2003 08:00 PMDoesn't he look like a little ram?! I'm going to have to shear him soon, though :-) Thanks for the tip on html... if you find anything let me know! And if I get hold of a reference that I can actually find stuff in, well, I'll use it!
Posted by: sheila on April 21, 2003 01:31 PMI'm looking for a pattern to crochet a sweater with an elephant on it. Would you happen to have one?
Thanks Monica