Fidgety Knitting

Illiterate

First... Eye Candy Friday. Cause really I am trying people. Life is flipping all around on me like a fish out of water. I am hopeful that something positive might just come together... so ummm yeah all that to say I am a bit high strung right now.

View to a Dame

Reflecting on what might be...
Shining for what I hope will be...
And looking at what will always be a part of me...

Now to the knitting part :)

I used to think I would need to go to China to feel fully illiterate (being that I can phonetically read the Greek and Cyrilic alphabets and count numbers in Arabic) but I was wrong. I just needed a knitting chart to remind me that I don't know what I am doing any more than anyone else. And anymore... that is OK. Because really if I have to explain why I start saying "Wapner at 12:30, Wapner at 12:30" to another Frenchman, I might just expire.

I am sure (since I took an Aran class from Shirley, the legend, at the Weaving Works in Seattle... many many moons ago) that someone at some point told me that you read charts right to left. This little fact over time however has clearly chosen to vacate the premises. That or it could be lost with everything else in that empty cranial cavity art exhibit I have got going on (minimalism goes cranial, only place it exists in my life :). But really I am going to go with the "I buck trends" explanation.

So I figured out my fuck up with the Endpaper Mitts. I read the chart left to right... cause THAT IS HOW YOU READ (in most langauges- Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese and others aside). This is not a problem when you are just going round and round. When you need to add a thumb gusset it is a slight bit more relevant however. Especially as it is now on the "WRONG" side. Also I should have probably remembered that in all honesty when doing a thumb gusset... it is only done on one side.

Serious my friends... I kid you not... Smart, it does not reside here. But that middle finger... it sure does!

However, somehow, I did get it together. I had a light bulb go off and fritz over my head. This was followed by spritzing of water to put out fires, a fair share of foul epithets and then 30+ minutes spent re-charting the damn thing. Because why try and do something simple when you can make it complex?? This was followed by a lot of staring at it... and then ritualistic drinking of some wine (it helps you to have the "visions"). Before continuing on and doing a holy dance as I THINK IT WORKED!!!

Now knitting for me has never been anything fearful. My first project was a in the round only knit hat with a stripe. Next project was a colourwork hat where I took the pattern style of one hat and decided to put a flower motif from another on it... Oh and the pattern it was in Norwegian. I just didn't think about it, I read and did what I thought was what I was being told to do...

People look at my knitting and say they could NEVER do that... Never do what? Knit their mitts too small. SURE THEY CAN. If I can so can you!! And then I can rip them out without a single tear... I get to knit longer and again with the Bollicina. That isn't bad, and cause Saturday I went to get needles a size up, made a sacrifice to the Knit Goddess' altar (ohhhhhmmmmm let me have enough yarn- especially in the brown I bought over a year ago- ahhhhhhhhhmmmmmmm) and start back in on them. They are addictive, they are cute, they are tiny, and once you get in the hang of it the pattern is fairly intuitive in its own way. Then... I realised that they might just still be a bit too tight. So they are on hold. But they will be made and I will show them.

Sometimes I get people fussy that I say anyone can do what I do knitting wise. Don't I have talent, take pride in my craft; I am unique I should revel in that fact. Sure... I am all of that, but none of it precludes anyone else from doing the exact same themselves. Most projects I have seen are constructed from a knit and a purl, of varying incarnations. I have learned most things (except the initial basics which I did finally take a course for once I got back from Norway) on my own, in a fearless kind of way. Or maybe it is thoughtless... because letting my free-spirited "niece" who dressed herself in 8 layers of clothing that looked like someone ate too many Skittles and then went on whirly-twirly pick the pattern and the yarn, while telling the whole of the Weaving Works staff that she was A FAIRYwas ASKING for trouble. But my first sweater... It was the ladybugs. Colourwork and Steeks were involved... I call it baptism by fire and it is one of those constants (along with uncertainty) in my life.

That said... I did take my needles out of the Endpaper Mitts (they are also my generic sock needles and I heart them something fierce... try to take them away or make me change and I will CUT YOU!) and decided I would start knitting something else with them. I was twitchy in that odd kind of way for some reason. I think these needles were lonely and wanted to be knit with... At least that is what I am going with.

So what did I do... I chose another pattern that would involve a chart! OF COURSE... (we are not going to mutter about how I tinked back 4 rounds when I realised I had done the SAME FUCKING THING all over AGAIN) I started myself a pair of Pomatumus socks. I am always behind the trend... but I had what I was sure was the perfect yarn (Schaeffer Anne- don't know the colourway) gifted to me in an exchange with Jodi I don't know how long ago. It had to have been a while though as it was when I was still on the good side of the deities. It was all pretty in its wound up cake. So I let it sit there for eons (call it decor, please) then I pet it, then I saw the pattern said it would work perfect I bet (cause finding patterns for variagated yarns is NOT easy people). Then I let the sock marinate for months on end. It took a pique of spite for me to cast them on... and knit away. I got this much done in effectively one day. Then they sat for two days... and now after watching XMen3 and a few other downloads... they look like this only a wee bit longer.

Now, I wasn't sure in the beginning that I liked the way the yarn was knitting up. Felt like I was seeing some slight pooling and I can get a bit OCD about that. But I figured I'd just keep going because Sweet Jesus I was not in the mood to start something else (I have too many UFO's flying around in here as it is) my fingers were twitching and as my mantra goes... worst thing that happens is I rip it out and start over again. And as a process more than product knitter, that doesn't cause me to break out in hives.

Now I think they are looking pretty damn good (though if they pool I am going to start in with the epithets) and hoping to finish at least one of the socks up before I go back to knitting a mitt... and then I think I will try to alternate so that I get these two projects done and can "Finish!!" Cutaway that is sitting in a pile and also rip out and restart the Lara once someone tells me how to read English again, because if nothing else... Knitting proves that I am illiterate :)

Posted by Stinkerbell at January 27, 2007 02:02 AM | TrackBack