Restless Knitter

I am such an idiot! It finally hit me what that red / means. I can k2tog, or I can do a ssk if I want a directional decrease. I wasn’t reading too much into it but rather I wasn’t reading it correctly. Even after I typed it here exactly the way it is printed. Gah!

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about weaving again. When I was in California, I went to Stick & Stone Fibers to see a real life loom. Probably not a wise move because now I want one, either a rigid heddle or table loom. Even though I still haven’t used one or know how to use one, I’ve been checking them out on ebay. Because, you know, I need more shit to move. The good thing is that I don’t know what’s good and what’s not so I’m too afraid to actually bid on one. There’s one on there that the seller didn’t know anything about the loom, just that it was left in the house when he/she bought it. (Someone let him/her know it’s a Baby Wolf 26″.) I’m so jealous.

Hubby comes in tomorrow morning at 5am. The house looks like a pigsty and I don’t care. So there!

How about a picture that doesn’t look naughty? One that won’t look so dark you can’t see anything on my monitor.

Okay, along with the whining I did yesterday, I have another issue. Granted, I’ve only done 3 things with knitted on edges but each one of those had you slip the inside edge stitch as if to knit with the yarn in back. I think. I’d go check but that stuff is packed up in boxes. Wait, let me back up a minute. There are some more instructions that confused me. In the directions for the center panel, it says “Slip first stitch of each row purlwise with yarn at wrong side (sl 1).” In the chart key, it says “Slip st purlwise with yarn at WS”. The problem is that each and every row (RS and WS) starts with that slipped purl stitch. So does the yarn go on the WS (back), or the wrong side (side not facing you)? If I did it on the WS, one edge didn’t have the chain (for lack of a better word) that the other side did. I ripped it out and did it my way, which is slip the first stitch purlwise with the yarn in front. That gave me the chain looking edges that I needed. So now, back to the inside edge, again I’m supposed to do that slip stitch but this time it’s a “Slip st purlwise with yarn at RS”. Since slipping wyif worked for the edges and the yarn in front is the RS row, that’s what I’m trying here. It’s giving me a hard line running between the edge and the center piece and I’m not sure if I like that, nor am I sure it’s supposed to look that way. I think it is, but it’s hard to tell. It might also be because I’m using a lighter weight yarn than what the pattern calls for. Regardless, I’m going to keep going as is. (There are corrections for the book, but so far they don’t affect me.)

Now you might think with all the complaining that I’d be ready to toss the book. I’m not. Believe it or not, I’m still really enjoying knitting the shawl and I’m still looking forward to starting the next one. I think it’s the challenge of having to try to decipher these weird (to me) instructions that’s giving me the cheap thrills. What can I say, I’m easily amused.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I totally enjoyed mine. Along with the turkey, The Man’s aunt (she’s Italian) made real lasagna which was absolutely the best lasagna I’ve ever tasted.

i got quite a bit done on the shawl while I was away. So much that I finished the center section, and have started on the edge.

I was having a bitch of time with it in the beginning. In the charts, there is a red /. It says K2tog; or SSK for directional decrease. I think I was reading too much into it at first because it confused the crap out of me. How can one / be both a K2tog and a SSK at the same time? After looking in the techniques section, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s red because that red k2tog is where you would normally expect a ssk so pay attention and don’t do what you’d normally do. I could be way off base but it seems to be working so far. Hard to tell since I don’t have that much done. I also had issues with getting it attached so the right side of the edging matched the right side of the center. In a nutshell, I made everything more difficult than it needed to be. (Am I the only one with a dirty mind, or does that picture look naughty to you too?)

Used??