I was forced to make a tough decision this morning:
A. get to my sadistic boss's 8:00 Monday Management Meeting on time or
B. take a picture of Varg Pojken progress to post to the blog.
I erred on the side of keeping my job, and so I face you now, photoless.
Despite constant, never-ending, annoying and regrettable knitting interruptions last night, I have almost finished the snowflake portion of the patterned yoke. The snowflakes underline the actual reindeer, and are typical Norwegianiacalistic motifs.
I have not decided yet whether I prefer fair isle or norwegian in terms of placement and other little quirks. For example, fair isle motifs continue all around the garment whereas Norwegian motifs are centered on the front and back, and if the motif isn't the right size to allow fluid continuation, you just stop at the side "seam" and restart wherever you need to in the pattern in order to center the next side.
In the Reindeer sweater, the sinister designer lures the unwitting knitter into a false sense of serenity by starting off the bottoms of the snowflakes identically save for the center one. By the time the knitter reaches the middle of the snowflake, she is snickering to herself about what a piece of cake this is and how she is going to get so much further than she thought she was... until she realizes with a sudden swoosh (the sound of a rapidly sinking heart) that every other motif is now a tad bit different.
How does a knitter deal with this? Well, here's a thought: blame someone else. Yes, even the poor innocent husband sitting there on the futon beside you. After all, he's the one who turned the sound up so loud that you can't concentrate, right? And that picture! Can't he see that it's distorted at the 14:26 ratio so that everyone's face is twice as wide as the height of their head (and a distortion in picture surely affects the chart you're working from!)?
Harumph.
However, I must say this: THANK YOU ELKA!! Because it was indeed Elka who told me of the trick of using a highliter to keep track of where you are on a chart. I've made a photocopy of the reindeer chart, and after I finish a row I highlight it, thus ensuring that the first non-highlighted row is the one I'm currently working. It's fast, it's easy. It requires no magnetic board or magnets or music stands. It's portable. It's wonderful.
Augmented Scales
We recently acquired a new bathroom scale. I don't like seeing bad news so I rarely use it. But I did notice when I used it last that on the top of the scale, just above the numerical readout, there is the word "THINNER". Now, I don't know if this is the name of the manufacturer or the name of the model of scale or perhaps a simple message to a person whose weight exceeds their desires. But is it saying "yay for you, you're thinner!", or is it saying "you need to get thinner!"??
And what if other feedback devices were marked with similar adjectives? On the mirror is it going to say "PRETTIER"? On your thermometer should it say "COOLER"? Maybe the blood pressure device should say "LOWER". And most importantly, your online bank statement should say "FATTER" just to balance out that very rude bathroom scale.
Parlor Parlance
Madame thanks you all for the compliments on the parlor. Of course you are welcome to come knit here, Emma! The OSA contains shetland jumperweight of various types, mostly Spindrift right now. If time and inspiration ever conspire to collide, it would be fun to create a "Mme Glitchbane's Parlor" fair isle design incorporating all these parlor colors. I have named the wall behind the sofa the "Erica Raspberry Wall" in honor of its inspiration.
Posted by Sheila at April 28, 2003 01:50 PM Posted to Dale Reindeer Pullovers | Interior Decorating | Introspection | Knitting | TrackBack