Haven't given up yet. No ball of wool is going to order me around, no sir. You guys are so supportive and kind and have offered some really helpful suggestions so I don't want to let you down. So if I can find the knitting needles out of the snowbank in the back yard, I will keep knitting, I promise!I was unable to sleep last night for some reason, and I never have problems sleeping, but I was wide awake until 2:30 a.m. I thought hey, a bit of knitting is probably the best soporific around (having no chamomile tea or drugs or the latest copy of Dentists 'R Us magazine to lull me into unconsciousness.)
While Fred the Beta Fish looked on, I tried yet again.
The more rows I lashed onto my needles (with my clever new knit one row purl one row technique) the more it started curling up onto my hands like a Keswick gal's bangs on prom night. I thought it was because I was pulling the wool too tight. One of the reasons knitting never worked out for me in the past was my tension. I'd have those stitches pulled so tight there was no way for a needle to pass under them. My fingers cramped up and I'd hunch over and sweat and I'm sure it looked like I was torturing some poor animal to death in my hands. Maybe it was the tension that was the problem!I told Youngest about the difficulty I was having with my new knit one row purl one row method, and this is what she wrote back:
One row purl/ one row knit it a stocking stitch!! It will curl up if it's a scarf! No no no mummy!!! You need me. I will guide you through when I come home in February. Don't let that beautiful yarn go to waste!!!
She was right of course. This is what it looked like after just half a dozen rows.
Perfect if I want a gnarly wool sheath to decorate my curling iron, but definitely not scarf material. I pulled the latest rows out AGAIN.Always look on the bright side. I can now say with assurance that I am an expert in casting on.
11 comments:
Well, casting on is an art form in itself. They still have to be even and the same tension so if you've become and expert in that, you've mastered half the battle :)
Seriously, if it's not casted on equally, the end looks like crap, so hang in there for Youngest to come home.
You can do this!
I'd say right now it IS the boss of you. Knit EVERY row, you stubborn woman!
Casting is supposed to be even and the same tension?!
AIEIIEEEE!!
No one told me THAT.
Luckily this is very slubby wool, and therefore, very forgiving, as am I, the future wearer of this Scarf From Heck.
Yutha, I assure you, it is NOT. And I will knit every row when I'm damn good and ready.
I'm damn good and ready....
If you didn't know that about casting then purling ain't for you woman. I'm just saying....
Ooooh. Knitting sounds haaaaaaard. If I tried it, it would only make me ornery, I reckon, so I'll just peek in every now and again at your projects, and feel inferior. Okay?
I'm rooting for you!
Yutha, don't you tell me I can't purl. I'll purl if I darn well want to.
I don't want to.
But I could, if I wanted to. Which I don't. And thank you, Diane for your support.
Debbie, when I read about you chopping wood and painting your house and shooting a deer and slapping it onto the table as a Sunday roast because you need to keep busy, well, that hardly compares to wrestling an itty bitty ball of yarn into submission.
I'm not a hunter. Ick. But looking this post over again, I think that Fred looks a bit nervous. I think that he might be a little fearful that you will throw down your needles in frustration and take up another type of casting all together. You need to comfort and reassure Fred. Go now.
Fred is a Beta fish, which attacks other fish. He'd take off my finger, given half a chance.
No way a knitting needle would intimidate this guy.
ps
Don't tell Fred, but I'm going out for sushi in a couple of hours.
Or maybe you should tell Fred. Might help keep him in line, show him who's boss.
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