too long

Once upon a time there was a knitter named Frizzylocks who loved Cat Bordhi’s Cables & Corrugations Socks and wanted to knit them more than anything in the whole, wide world.

Now Frizzylocks was one of those knitters who never follows patterns. She always changed something, or tweaked something else, or just plain threw the pattern away and did her own thing. But because Frizzylocks loved the Cables & Corrugations Socks so much, she really wanted to knit them just exactly the way the pattern said to.

So she started knitting, and she knit and she knit and she knit. She followed all of the directions until she was ready to turn the heel, and then she tried the socks on. And, although the gusset seemed a bit wide at the top, for the most part they fit pretty well and the length was great. Smiling happily, she began knitting again, following the heel instructions.

What Frizzylocks hadn’t realized when she tired the socks on was that the heel portion of the pattern would add an entire stitch-pattern repeat, making the socks longer, and the set-up for the sock would add quite a few more increases and make the heel even wider.

When the heel was finished, Frizzylocks tried the sock on again. It was too long. It was way, way too long. And the heel was way wide because Frizzylocks has skinny heels. And Frizzylocks was no longer smiling.

too short

So that’s enough third person fairytale. Because this, unfortunately is most decidedly not a fairytale of any kind. The sock was way too long. The heel was way too wide. There was just no getting around it. You can see it in the first picture up there. It was huge.

The width through the foot was OK, though. And that was certainly nice. You will recall that when I first knit the toes I did not trust the pattern and added extra increases and the toes ended up way, way too wide. I think these socks hate me. And really, I like them a lot and I am trying not to take it personally!

So, anyway, I frogged the heel.

I frogged the heel at knit night at Tangle, and there were gasps all around as I took them off the needles. But it doesn’t fit, I explained. Alice tried the glass slipper red sock on. It fit her. Alice offered to take them off my hands (or feet, as the case may be) once completed. I politely declined. Alice started knitting on a gorgeous basketweave sweater that’s been a UFO for a couple of years now because she’s not feeling the love. I suggested that sweater might be swapped for socks. Alice politely declined.

So I frogged the heel and ripped back two pattern repeats — the one created during the heel set-up, and one extra for good measure. My plan was to knit my standard heel, which is narrower. I really like Cat’s heel – I think it’s lovely and brililant – but it doesn’t fit well on my skinny heels. 😥 So I felt forced – forced, I say – to deviate from the pattern. (I think Cat would understand.)

There’s something about the phrase for good measure that does not bode well when my pursuits are concerned. You will, perhaps, remember the never-ending moebius? The one that 11 knitters fit into? Yeah. I cast on just a few extra stitches for good measure.

You can see from the second picture above that the heel is not too wide. But the sock is also now too short. Way too short. I should have only ripped out one pattern repeat, not two. < sigh >

just right

Third times a charm, gentle reader.

I knit one more pattern repeat. Then I stopped and worked my standard heel. It’s not exactly like Cat’s heel, but it’s visually similar. Actually, the flap is pretty much the same, but the turn is different.

And, as you can see from the third picture, this one is just right! The heel fits, it’s the right length. And Frizzylocks is very happy.

Now to do the same thing on the other sock, and I will be back in business heading up the legs. I may need a few extra stitches on the ankles once I get the cable going up the back. But I’m not worried about that at all since I know from experience that increases are really easy to hide in the purls along the edges of cables.

I almost titled this post Why I Don’t Follow Patterns, but then I went into my little fairytale instead.

But that did send me off on a little navel-gazing tangent — Why don’t I follow patterns? Is it just that I’m a rebel? Or is it fit? Or process? Or maybe all of these? Probably the last. But following the Cables & Corrugations pattern has been difficult, even though I fully intended to follow it. I just keep wanting to stray, and the heels gave me the perfect excuse.

What about you, gentle reader? Do you follow patterns? Why or why not?

Are you more enamored of the process of knitting itself, or is it the finished objects that you create that keep you coming back for more?

Would you prefer to knit objects similar to those you have knit before, or would you rather knit something completely different?

When things go wrong — patterns have errors, the swatch lied, you loath the way the yarn is knitting up, the thing looks sucky on you — what is your reaction? Are you angry at the time lost or the pattern author? Are you discouraged or invigorated? Do you want to fix it at any cost and make it work, or bury it 20 feet deep and never see it again?

As I said, I seem to be in a period of thoughtful introspection, so I would love to hear what you think. There are no right answers or wrong answers – and there are probably different answers for every knitter. If you don’t want to answer in comments, email me at Judy at persistentillusion dot com. I really would like to hear from you…

MOO cards and MOOPocket

I have a couple of quick things to tell you about today.

First, I’ve been an admirer of those bloggers organized enough to actually have cards with their blog address, etc., to hand out at functions. It’s been a big help to me more than once because I’m truly name-challenged. I know that’s my issue, and not that of the lovely people who I meet, but try as I might I can’t seem to find the technique that will help me remember their names. 😥 So cards are such a great idea!

I finally have my own.

Here are the PI MOO cards. If you haven’t seen MOO cards before, this is such a cool idea. They are smaller than a standard business card, so you can carry a bunch of them. And you can put your own pictures on the backs. The pictures can be anything you want. I went with mostly fibery goodness. But I do have one of the beach at Lincoln City, because it’s so pretty, and one of Moo Cow, because she should be on a MOO card.

Although the cards are printed in London, they arrived safe and sound all the way here in the Pacific Northwest in only about 10 days after I ordered them. So now when I go to functions, I can hand them out. And because I have 100 of them, I can hand them out willy-nilly without having to conserve.

So I needed something to keep them in, I think you will agree?

The Clip-on MOOPocket is from Splatgirl’s etsy shop. She has tons of cool fabrics (or leather), and several different styles. Mine is not only clip-on, but has a little window in the front so I can display one of my MOO Cards, as the mood strikes me (currently it’s one of all my little sock bookmarks). Splatgirl had my special-ordered MOOPocket to me in just a few days. I wanted to show it to you last week, because it’s so cute. But I had to wait for the cards to get here, too.

Now, the second thing I wanted to talk to you about, gentle reader, is retirement. If you are in your 20’s or 30’s, please start saving for retirement now, because it will come a lot faster than you think. And remember that many people have to live on quite fixed incomes during their retired years.

Yarn doesn’t spoil. So go ahead and stash. It’s saving for retirement. 😆 In honor of this thought, Knitnana and I have created a new button: 401(k)nit. It’s over on the left-hand side-bar, right above the Yarn Collectors button. If you, too, are saving for your retirement, feel free to proudly display this button on your blog or website. But please don’t link to my image. Download the button and upload it to your own server, thankyouverymuch.

Same goes for the Yarn Collectors button, also. If you are a yarn collector, don’t be afraid to shout that out! We collectors and savers must stick together.

ah… that’s better

I decided that trying to make diagonal heels was an exercise in futility. There’s probably a reason that many knitters smarter than myself have been knitting heels the way they are usually knit for probably thousands of years. D’ya think? Sometimes goofs end up producing something interesting and usable. Sometimes they don’t. That’s the way the stitch drops.

So… I knit the heels again using plain, old heel stitch. I did one modification to fit the pattern: The scale on the back of the heel matches the scale on the front of the leg. I also continued the heel stitch up the leg until the side scale met the back scale. I think an abrupt transition to plain stockinette would have been too jarring.

I’m really happy with the way that these heels turned out. So far the socks fit well and I love the color. But every time I knit on them, the same song starts running through my head: The George Thorogood and the Destroyers version of Who Do You Love:

Snake skin shoes baby put them on your feet
Got the goodtime music and the Bo Diddley beat
Who do you love?

I’m afraid these socks have been posing with pretensions of dragonhood and are fated to be named something rather snake-ish. I’m OK with that. I like snakes. Very interesting and often beautiful critters.

I’d also like to clear up something that may have been misunderstood. I receive no monetary compensation from the sale of Cat Bordhi’s new book. I honestly think it’s a gorgeous book or I wouldn’t mention it — my name in it or not.

In fact, I receive no compensation from anything on this blog with one exception: If you follow one of the Amazon links, like the one above for George Thorogood, and then actually buy something, I get few pennies. In all of the time I’ve blogged, I’ve managed to amass enough filthy lucre to get two free books. We ain’t gettin’ rich from blogging over here at chez PI. And I’m OK with that, too. That’s not why I’m here.

First of all, thank you all for your commiseration with me over my extreme dorkiness. 😳 I may eventually live it down. Or not.

I can’t believe how many people raised their hand when Stephanie asked how many people blogged! I had no idea there were so many of us! It would be cool to do a little Portland Portland/tri-county/Vancouver/larger-metro-area/whatever Knitting Bloggers thingy. I’m touching bases with a few other bloggers whose emails and/or blog addresses I have to see if there’s any interest in getting something going.
[ed. 06/11/07 12:01 PM – to be inclusive of a larger territory than only Portland proper. When I say Portland, it’s my shorthand for all this stuff around here within striking distance. I certainly don’t want anyone to feel excluded!]

Did any of you knit in public on Saturday? I did. It was at my normal haunt — Tangle — but it was in public, even though it’s a yarn shop. And a couple of non-knitters did come in. I think.

On Sunday I had lunch with my muggle friend M. She said, did you know today is National Knitting Day, or something like that? I gave her lots of credit for trying, because she was obviously paying attention! And told her that the day before had been Worldwide Knit In Public Day, and I did knit in public, which I do all the time anyway.

On the more changes in PI subject, gentle reader, I’m pleased to announce the return of spell check on comments. Oh frabjous day! I think that’s the last thing lost during the WP 2.0 upgrade that had not been replaced or rewired or recoded or updated. Whew. It’s a really cool spell checker, too. Better than the old one. I think you’ll like it.

Yes, that’s a blatant hint that you should try it out! 😆

Here are the little blue baby socks. The knitting was finished at the Harlot’s book signing, and I did the bind-off when I got home. I think they came out really cute. I’m so pleased that I had some Cascade Fixation in a color that worked so well with the little sweater. I also have some Fixation in a lime green, but I think it may be too green. There really are two socks in this picture.

The Particulars:

• Yarn: Cascade Fixation — 98.3% cotton / 1.7% elastic, 100g / 50 yds per ball — in an unknown colorway (might be 2706) — a tiny amount left over from a different project.
• Needles: Knit Picks Classics, US#2 (3mm).
• Pattern: my own standard toe-up sock pattern, just knit really, really small. Magic cast-on. Flap-and-gusset heel. Tubular bind-off.

Next up: finishing the Spanish Lavender Basket Wave socks, another stab at Clapotis #2, Sockapalooza socks – hopefully the yarn will arrive!

This is the lecturn that Powell’s Books provides for guest speakers. Cool, isn’t it? I love the book stack and the faux shelf of books at the top. Just below the faux book shelf is a place where books (I guess most frequently written by the guest speaker) can be displayed during an event. Like Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off, for example.

This lectern is large enough to almost entirely hide Stephanie, except for her head from the chin up.

I’ve missed The Yarn Harlot the last couple of times she traveled to Stumptown. I almost missed her this time.

I looked online to see if there was a bus or something that runs from where I work to Powell’s, because I knew that finding a place to park would be nearly impossible. Portland has this wonderful invention called fareless square. You can ride any of the mass-transit options for free, as long as you stay within this area. I work at one end. Powell’s is at the other. Free ride — how often does that happen? And, it turns out that the Portland Streetcar, which stops only a block from work, would drop me off and pick me up right next to Powell’s. How perfect is that?

Then the only issue was to get out of work early enough that I could ride the incredibly slow charming streetcar and still get to Powell’s in time to get a seat. I did kinda have a clue what was going to happen. 😆

When I arrived at 5:30, there were already a goodly number of knitters in attendance, but I managed to get a great seat.

Powell’s main store is so large (an entire block), and so maze-like that the different areas of the store are painted different colors so it’s easier to find your way around. I’m sure that it’s much simpler for employees, when asked for directions, to answer go through the Blue Room, then down the stairs and through the Gold Room. Stephanie would be speaking in the (I am not making this up) Pearl Room.

But now perhaps they will rename the Pearl Room the Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Room.

As I arrived, the intrepid Powell’s employees were cramming as many folding chairs as they could into the open area in front of and to either side of the lectern. Apparently they partially learned their lesson after last year, when they booked her into the tiny Powell’s Home & Garden store and did not even provide a microphone.

By 7:15, Powell’s looked like this. Powell’s tried to limit the audience to a number reasonable for the area provide, and closed the door when the limit was reached. I’m not sure of the truth to the rumors that a few knitters simply bypassed the closed door by taking the elevator. Would knitters do that? 😆 At any rate, by the time Stephanie arrived, it was standing room only, and the aisles were crammed.

I saw so many people! Nurse Knitter was there, T, Lori – she had her socks with her and they look great. I sat right behind Monica, who has cards for her blog! And I saw several people who I met at the Magical Moebius Festival and I love you all and I know I’m forgetting bunches of people and I’m sorry. I’m a dork. Next time I will take better notes. But I kept trying to finish the little baby socks, which were barely past the toe increases when I left work.

Everyone was knitting. I tell you, you’ve never seen so many knitters in one place. And we all had a bunch of fun showing each other what we were knitting. And I, being a dork, just had a lot of fun listening to the snippets of conversation around me:

It was the perfect gray cashmere, so I had to buy it.

This is the third sock I’ve started.

(said very earnestly) Sometimes, when you frog something out, you just need to let the yarn rest a little while and then it almost seems like it’s brand new when you start to knit with it again. It’s almost as good as actually buying new yarn. But not quite.

Stephanie was funny and witty and earnest. I loved her talk about knitting and knitters and the amazing things we can do when we put our minds to it. She started by describing what a worrier she was. Having grown up with a command-performance worrier in the form of my Mama, I laughed and laughed because the description rang so true. Stephanie worried about all of the sheep in the world suddenly losing all of their fleece. She asked us to picture the battles between crocheters and knitters over the last of the yarn. Crochet, you know, is so much faster!

Most of the time, Stephanie had us all in stitches (pun intended). The part about she and Joe attending a swanky cocktail party, and what it meant to admit she was a knitting author, was particularly funny. And there were boos (aimed towards the banks involved) when she mentioned Blue Moon’s problems with their bank over their sock club orders. And the issues another woman had when trying to get a business loan to open an online yarn store. There were cheers when she talked of the amazement from another fund raiser at the speed (72 hours) with which knitters could double the amount donated via Tricoteuses Sans Frontières (Knitters Without Borders). At this writing, an amazing $320,093 has been donated.

There was time for a couple of questions afterwards. Someone asked about the traveling sock taken hostage at BEA by Ann and Kay. Stephanie was pleased to announce that her no negotiation policy had payed after all, and the sock was on its way home.

Then it was time to get in the long, long, long line. And my true dorkiness began to shine.

As I prepared to gather my stuff together, a very nice woman tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was the magic cast-on lady. I admitted that I was. She said some very kind words about the cast-on and how pleased she was to meet me. And I thanked her and asked her name (which I think was Terry? And if it wasn’t or if I’ve spelled it wrong, please let me know right away so I can fix it, because I’m such a dork with names). I picked my stuff up to get it out of the way of all of the knitters who were stumbling over my purse (I’ve driven cars that were smaller) and my other junk. And the lovely lady came back with Melody (who gave me her card, sparing me from totally humiliating myself by forgetting her name, too).

It turns out that they had come all the way from Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, to see the Harlot. So we had Idaho in common, I being born and raised in Idaho Falls and not only knowing where Coeur d’ Alene is but how to pronounce it. Melody owns Harmony Yarn Studio, which looks like such a cool little store. I will definitely visit if I’m ever in the area.

This is so big, for me to meet you, Melody said, can we please take my picture with you? And that rendered me totally speechless and feeling all weirdly cool and embarrassed at the same time, and of course I was happy to oblige. They were both so sweet and kind and fun to meet.

And the picture… it was pretty hot in the Pearl room, and it was pretty humid. Yeah… The incredible expandomatic hair was at it again. When I gasped ohmygod, my hair!, Melody kindly replied, don’t worry. We’ll explain about the hair.

Now… I’ve been trying to explain about my hair for years and years. 🙄 I wish her luck with that. Melody, if you are reading this, maybe you can send me the explanation so I can use it in the future? I’m serious.

And then I went to stand in line. And then I remembered that I had neither taken a picture of the Harmony Yarn ladies or written down the first ones name. And now, of course, it was way too late to do that. And I banged my head against the nearest bookshelf a few times in lieu of kicking my own rear end, because I’m a dork. Harmony Yarn ladies, you were wonderful and I am not usually quite so spacey.

The line went on and on and on and moved very, very slowly. So slowly that I actually finished the baby socks while I stood in line. Babies have such tiny feet, as we’ve already established.

I knit for about 4 hours straight, while waiting for Stephanie, while she spoke, while waiting in line. It was a bit too much for my hands. By the time I got to the head of the line, my hands were hurting and clumsy and my brain was beginning to shut off even more than it already had, if that were possible. Low blood sugar? Yeah… that’s my story for what happened next, and I’m sticking to it.

Stephanie was just as warm up close, in person, as I knew she would be. I said, nice to meet you, and passed over my book calmly, and then gushed can my socks meet your sock? Stephanie giggled and said of course they could, because her tours were really about socks meeting and not about books at all. After some fumbling, I managed to partially untangle the two pairs of socks in my little knitting bag, so Stephanie is holding both the Spanish Lavender Basket Wave socks and the little baby socks, along with her traveling sock.

Book signed and picture taken, Stephanie looked closer at the Basket Wave socks and stroked the yarn a little.

That’s the Rockin’ Sock Club yarn for April — Silkie Socks That Rock in Walking on the Wild Tide. I’m not knitting the club pattern, but I’m pleased with the results. I said.

Or that’s what I meant to say.

Instead I suffered from total brain freeze and said, that’s the… that’s the… that’s the…

Yeah, Stephanie nodded. It’s the Silkie stuff. It looks nicer knitted up than in the skein.

Thank you, I croaked, and began gathering up my stuff because I knew that she was tired and there was still a line of knitters behind me and I couldn’t talk and I needed to disappear quickly into a hole in the ground because I couldn’t make my mouth work along with my brain.

I was carrying my purse (small cars, etc.), my knitting bag containing yarn and various tools, the two pairs of socks on two circs each – now outside the bag, my sweater, Stephanie’s book. My hands were very clumsy, and I kept dropping things. I picked up the bag and dropped the book. I picked up the book and dropped a pair of socks. I picked up the socks and dropped the other socks. I picked up the socks and dropped the bag, and the socks, and my sweater. ohmygod I wanted to just die.

Take your time, Stephanie said. Do you need help?

No, no, no. I’m so sorry. I managed to get out. Then I finally captured all of my errant objects and made my escape.

Ugh. How embarrassing was that? Gentle reader, isn’t that the most extreme case of dorkiness you’ve ever heard of?

I know. It’s the universe’ way of keeping me humble.

P.S. In case anyone wondered, I’m watching the Portland Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade right now. It’s raining. Tradition is preserved.

Evidence of surprise knitting, that is.

A colleague is having a baby in July. Last week it occurred to me that July is in the none-to-distant future, and I’d better get a-knittin’.

This is the Babies And Bears sweater from Cottage Creations, knit in Cascade Sierra in colors 47 (turquoise blue) and 48 (lime green). (Such nice Persistent Illusion colors, eh?)

This sweater was a really fun knit. I love knitting baby things, anyway — they are so little and cute! And I so rarely have a reason to, except for charity knitting. “E” is for excuse also. The Babies And Bears sweater is knit in two sections from the ends of the arms in to the center. The two sections are Kitchenered together up the back while the rest of the stitches remain live. Then the hood is knit starting from the still-live neck stitches and Kitchenered at the top. The trim is added last from the still-live stitches around the edge, and then you bind off at the very end. I hate picking up stitches, and with all of the stitches remaining live until the end, this construction kept the picking up to a very minimum. It was fun, fun, fun!

Maybe, just maybe, there are a pair of little socks in some leftover-and-stashed Cascade fixation in a bright turquoise (ball band long ago lost).

Sorry about the craptastic chair shot. I had to take pics indoors rather than out in the yard because it’s raining.

It’s raining because this is Portland and it’s Rose Festival time.

Similar to the teaser faux-spring in February, we usually have a teaser faux-summer in May featuring a week or so of lovely warm days and clear crisp nights. It lulls even the long-time residents into putting away their winter coats and heaters and digging around in the basement (for those that have them) or garage (for those that don’t) to find the fan that was stashed away last autumn. Then Rose Festival comes and the rains return. It’s not as cold as it is earlier in the year, but it’s not all that warm, either. The jackets and sweaters come back out. The fan goes back to the basement / garage.

The weather sucks until after the 4th of July. Then we have a couple of truly hot, hot weeks. Everyone runs out and buys air conditioners like crazy because, you know, it’s apparently impossible to live through a couple of hot days. And the power demands spikes up while everyone attempts to keep cool. For a couple of weeks. Then the weather moderates and we have lovely 85-degree days all the way into October, with just a spot of rain occasionally to wash everything down. September is Portland’s way of rewarding us for living here through the long, dark winter.

I did turn my furnace off for the season. But I haven’t dragged out the fans yet. And I don’t possess air conditioning (and not likely to get it). So my summer preparation is fairly minimalistic.

PI updates continue, now and again. You might notice a little share this link at the bottom of each post. Clicking on it brings up a little tabbed window — one tab has a list of social bookmarking sites and the other lets you forward a link in email.

Toys. 😀

Thanks to everyone for your well-wishes after my little prat fall last week. I am well on my way towards being as good as new — or at least as goos as I ever am. 😈 . All of you who related your own harrowing tales — Ack! Please be careful, gentle readers!

And greetings to fans of Defect Defect arriving here because they played at a placed called The Knitting Factory… I love my kid, but this might not be the site you were looking for. Google carefully. 😆

P.S — yes, the sweater is for a boy. If the baby were a girl, I think hot pink trim would have been just too cute, don’t you?