February 22, 2006
The French Revolution Had Nothing On Me
As part of the frenzy that is the Knitting Olympics, I declare today the "2006 First Official Annual International Mark-Up-Your-Chart Day!"
Like many of you, I’m sure, I was brought up to believe that writing in or marking up a book was grounds for slow torture or, at the very least, immediate disinheritance. From my earliest “Dick and Jane” days, I was taught books are holy and inviolable; they were to be revered and should remain pristine, pure, unmarked, unsullied. And dog-ear a page? Fuggedaboudit. Unfortunately for my adult self, I took this Puritanical, color-inside-the-lines way of thinking much too much to heart…which means I feel faint at the thought of marking up pretty much any piece of paper…which means even marking up copies of knitting charts is unimaginably torturous and traumatic for me. The faintest smudge, and I imagine a large man in a black robe wielding a double-headed axe taking a swing at me. (Gee, thanks for this particular neurosis, Mom.)
I remember the first time I saw someone at Ferals with a riotously marked-up copy of a Fair Isle chart and thinking to myself, that’s either unforgivably blasphemous or—Wait. Could it be?!—a brilliant time-saver. (And then my immediate next thought was, of course, Duck! Big man! Black robe! Double-headed axe!) But the damage was done; the idea had gotten under my skin, like some lethal, unstoppable, burrowing Amazonian brain-parasite, and, over time, I’ve slowly succumbed to this new way of thinking and have started to make tentative scribbles on my copies of my Aran and Fair Isle charts. And now, after a year or two of the parasitic burrowing, I’m the knitting equivalent of a reformed smoker, a quasi-militant chart-marker-upper, hence, the “2006 First Official International Annual Mark-Up-Your-Chart Day.”
In celebration of this day, I say, get out your screamingly bright highlighters, red pens, purple pens, neon-pink pens, glitter pens, calligraphic pens, Sharpies, ink stamps, and decals, and mark the crap out of your chart copies! Mark the beginning of the row, mark the end, mark the middle, list your yarn colors in one margin, write your gauge calculations in the other, mark difficult rows with asterisks, mark easy rows with smiley faces, highlight rows you’ve finished, cross out the parts that are for pattern sizes larger than the one you're knitting, draw arrows, circles, boxes, squiggles, hearts, stars, moons, suns! And, in a final act of defiance, staple a sample of your yarn to one corner. I say, ignore the man with the double-headed axe! Oh, I feel so naughty! Who’s with me?!
On a quieter, less revolutionary note, this past weekend turned out to be a particularly fibery one for The Mysterious K and me. Yes, both TMK and me.
First, we spent a good portion of Sunday with Elaine and her partner, noshing on mini-quiches, barbecued meatballs, gruyere, salami, olives and the ever-present tofu pie, which how could we not make one since, pre-get-together, we received from them this picture of the woebegone half-brother to Angry Pie, Lonely Pie:
It’s always a great gift in life when you meet people with whom quiet moments just feel comfortable and natural. At one point, Elaine and I were knitting sedately away on our Olympic projects, and Leslie and TMK were happily racing each other in a video game and, if I may be so bold as to speak for everyone there, it seemed as if we all felt content just being together. There was no need for small talk or forced conversation; it was enough to just have each other’s company on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I don’t think I could have asked for more. Frankie—who, at one point was reduced to walking endlessly back and forth between Elaine and Leslie’s laps because she couldn’t decide which one of them she loved more—agrees.
Monday night we had a Ferals gathering and Andrea, one of the Feralites, sent out an email saying that some of the spinners of the group would be getting together early to spin and did anyone else want to join in? Thanks to the holiday, we had an amazing turn out—among them Ms. TMK. Yep, TMK finished spinning the last of her navy blue roving late Monday afternoon and then started making noises about, “Could we pleeeeze go to Ferals early so I can show Andrea my 'string?' Pleeeeeze? Could we? Huh? Could we?”
So, off we trotted and soon found ourselves part of a large group of women, spinning wheels, fiber, and knitting. And this is where things started to get weird.
Since small talk and socializing have historically not been TMK’s cuppa tea, it has always been my habit, when we are at parties or gatherings, to touch base with her, even if just through eye contact, to make sure she isn’t getting overwhelmed by all the badinage. This means that there is always a faint but definite “live wire” between us; the one of us always knows where the other one is and how she's holding up.
About half-an-hour into Monday night’s fiber gathering, I noticed something odd. There was no “live wire,” no hum, no “invisible connection,” no pull between me and her. How could this be?! I looked around for TMK and discovered, to my horror, that she was—there’s no good way to say this, so I’ll just get it out—perfectly happy. Mon Dieu! And sacre bleu! She had quickly been absorbed into the spinning group and was, in fact, quite contentedly chatting away while fondling different fibers (cashmere, silk, alpaca—yummers!), looking at the different types of spinning wheels and, at one point, using Andrea’s wheel to practice plying. In short, she didn’t need the faintest bit of rescuing. Huh.
As I struggle to come to terms with the New and Improved TMK, I suppose this is as good a time as any to respond to Melinda’s request for an update on TMK’s success with the Louet wheel that Melinda lent her, so here is a picture of the sage and blue roving spun up:
And here, a picture of TMK’s first 2-ply yarn!
By Monday we hope to have plied, washed and dried yarn for me to swatch!! We are very excited!
P.S. Be sure to visit Cuzzin Tom's blog to wish him a happy one-year blogiversary!!! Now, if we could just get him to start knitting...
Oh, I'm so with you on both the "do not write in the book!" thing, and in the need to write all over the pattern. The solution, for me, is to photocopy patterns before I use them, and write all over the photocopy!
My Olympic knitting is a lace shawl, and the chart is "complete," meaning it shows all 31 repeats of the pattern across the top row. It's printed on 24" paper! So I actually cut it up so that all I see are the first, last, and center repeats of the pattern, and it's thin enough that it fits in my "paper-holding-thingy" on the arm of the sofa.
C'mon, who thought that was a good idea?
Posted by: MaryB in Richmond on February 22, 2006 11:11 AMDude. I can't do it. But just for you, I'll make a COPY of my pattern and mark it up. Happy?
Posted by: martha in mobile on February 22, 2006 11:12 AMTo clarify to everyone, I'm marking up copies of patterns, not the originals, not the books. Could never, would never!!!
And, MaryB in Redmond, you cut yours up? Fabulous!
Posted by: Ryan on February 22, 2006 11:18 AMoh!! Have you read any Catherine Fadiman yet?? If you haven't let me lend you a copy for your scapel time.
Go TMK!! So pleased that you are enjoying the string. Now we need to start sending you all our favorite links to fiber sites so you could start building up a fiber stash to go with the wood stash.
Posted by: anj on February 22, 2006 11:19 AMMy mother is a librarian, so I grew up being taught to never write in(/dogear/mark up/make look like it's ever even been LOOKED at) books
Then I became a serious musician (obsessed with HS choir, studied to be an opera singer, ended up with a Musicology degree) for a while, and a surefire way to get in trouble with your private lessons teacher or conductor is for them to see that your copy of the music is pristine. It should have marks showing where to breathe, notes about tempo and technique, etc. ALL over the place, or else you're deemed to clearly not be paying attention. That wasn't such a big deal when I was working with sheet music or photocopies, but it quickly became clear that if I bought a book of, say, 200 Schubert lieder, then it was considered best for me to make the marks (in pencil) in the book itself. It took a little getting used to, but I became a firm believer. It's easy to lose photocopies, and you never know when you'll pull out a song again and need the reminders of what you learned about it the first time through. But always mark in pencil for that sort of thing.
Knitting patterns are a little different, though. The books are often glossy, so pencil doesn't make much a mark and can't really be erased, and often you need a highlighter anway. So I photocopy and mark those up, then tuck the copy in the book in case I need it again later.
Posted by: Nina on February 22, 2006 11:51 AMRyan, you knit patterns using NOT the largest sizing?? I'm impressed with your sveltness.
I agree... copy and mark, mark, mark -- complete with gauge swatch and needles used, etc. It helps when you come back years later and have no clue what you were doing.
Posted by: Diane in Chico on February 22, 2006 11:58 AMUm, Ryan, the lonely pie looks good. But did you read the ingredients on the link you gave us?
Cuz I'm suspicious about where the brown color comes from when on the list is one teaspoon of HINEY.
Posted by: Amie on February 22, 2006 12:29 PMHiney! I knew there was a secret to it. We did have a good time; I love it when friendship comes as naturally as breathing.
TMK - the plyed yarn looks wonderful. You are the string-master.
Posted by: Elaine on February 22, 2006 12:37 PMAlthough my heart will always belong to the version of the recipe that calls for a teaspoon of hiney (thank you, Amie!!), here is the "official" version, which I couldn't find before I posted, directly from Alton Brown's site. I do not believe it calls for hiney. http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_14312,00.html
And, Diane in Chico--the knitting projects for which I'm not using the largest size? Baby sweaters, all baby sweaters. Oh, girlfriend, if you knew just how unsvelte I am...
Posted by: Ryan on February 22, 2006 12:54 PMAww, great yarn, TMK! Do you need more wool? I don't know if I mentioned this (enough) when you were here, but I have quite a bit of fiber, so if you ever feel like you're in danger of running out, just say the word.
I'm marking up my photocopies like mad. I haven't been expecting the hooded guy (but then, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!).
I just love your blog. Just wanted to say that. I just love reading it, and always enjoy hearing about your latest adventures with TMK. And I also want to add that the squirrels on the Olympic sweater do NOT look like they are wading in quicksand, contrary to what a certain Monk might think. Honestly!
Mary B in Seattle (the "original" Mary B)
Posted by: Mary B in Seattle on February 22, 2006 01:06 PMWell, Original MaryB, you have always told me that I underestimate TMK's ability to "work the crowd," so you must have felt quite smug reading my little tale today. ;-)
Posted by: Ryan on February 22, 2006 01:14 PMI had a teacher in high school who demanded that we write in our books. She would check the margins for notes. It physically hurt me.
LOVE that yarn. TMK is a natural. It's bittersweet when they leave the nest, isn't it?
;-)
They grow up so fast, don't they Blog Mistress? Way to go TMK! You little socialite, you.
The string looks lovely. I am highly impressed. Now I must go buy some hiney for some pie. Mmmmm
Posted by: Stalker Angie on February 22, 2006 01:23 PMI love TMK's yarn -- can't wait to see what you make from it. Ok now here is the main question -- is the pie any good????
And I have loved reading your blog because our sense of humor seems about the same -- now I know the story of the "angry pie" I feel the same about TMK even though she doesn't have a blog -- Plus it is a GREAT way to be sure there is a piece of pie for when you get home LOL
rho
Posted by: rho1640 on February 22, 2006 02:36 PMRho, the pie is great. It's like a french silk pie and very easy to make. TMK makes ours in about ten minutes. Although I would say use the Alton Brown recipe, not the one that requires hiney.
Posted by: Ryan on February 22, 2006 02:58 PMok, ryan, i have to confess. i write in BOOKS. not just copies. granted, it's with a pencil, and i erase the mark as soon as i'm done with it (a bookmark of sorts). and the one thing i learned in college is that the used books are better than the new ones because other people have highlighted the important bits!
Posted by: minnie on February 22, 2006 04:17 PMJust for the record, I have a stash started, thanks to Anj's recent package and a gift of some Alpaca roving from one of the spinners from Ferals. Anj, FYI, I'm planning on spinning up some of the goodies you sent me as soon as I get the plying finished!
TMK
Posted by: The Mysterious K on February 22, 2006 04:18 PMPsst - someone is selling a Louet for $100 on seattlecraigslist. In case you're interested.
Posted by: moiraeknits on February 22, 2006 06:22 PMHmmm . . . I was brought up in a similar manner but somewhere along the way that was lost. I was trying to think when I started writing in books. It was university . . .that shot everything to hell. I started using highlighters and writing notes in the margin . . . and hence, I also write in my knitting books. I'm so bad!!
Posted by: celtic knitter on February 22, 2006 08:47 PMI thought TMK seemed so very happy! I love the 2-ply yarn! Looks wonderful, especially since I now know what 2-ply yarn is.
Posted by: Rebecca on February 23, 2006 11:31 AMI'm with you on the writing in books thing. I can only mark up a photocopy of a pattern. But, boy, can I write on the copy! Even in college I had a hard time with the highlighting, etc. Some habits are just really ingrained. I'm so glad that TMK has come over to the dark (fiber) side.
Posted by: Joan in Reno on February 23, 2006 02:04 PMWhen I got my Barbara Walker stitch dictionary, I decided to make short notes beside every stitch pattern I try. I hope that years from now, I'll e able to flip through the book and see my handwriting on every page or two!
Posted by: jpt on February 24, 2006 06:11 AMYes, by all means photocopy! And highlight! I learned that back when I was doing cross stitch at 32 stitches to the inch and the pattern wasn't much bigger. Back before I needed lots of light and magnifying glasses....
The 2-ply is lovely!
Posted by: Jenn on February 24, 2006 01:34 PM