Friday, September 01, 2006

it's just k2p1

so, on the whole it has been a good week...weathering the transition between summer and school for two high schoolers who approach early mornings very differently; juggling the logistics of who needs to be where when and how will they get there; as well as balancing all that goes on at the paying job of two parental units has been busy, but on the whole, good.

i was off work last week so was able to spend friday afternoon at the LYS, a true treat. i had jumped off the precipice and agreed to teach beginning knitting if a beginning knitting teacher was needed. so when i walked in friday to discover a bkt was actually needed for the very next day i tried not to panic. and it ended up going very well. pat, the student, was a real fun gal who had a basic understanding of knitting. she learned alot, laughed alot and ended up having a good time, looking forward to her next lesson. so that was good.

i spent sunday madly finishing the shawl i was making for a friend. and that went well. besides the fact the color was real orange, and i keep forgetting to take pictures of my finished knitting projects before i give them away, my friend absolutely loved her gift and had fun showing it off to everyone at work. so that was good.


but then it came to my sweet friend's pink tennis skirt. since i had finished the shawl, the next projects in the line up was a shell for me and a skirt for her. i had finally found the correct gauge for my shell. so i just needed to swatch hers. so i swatched. and swatched. and swatched. found the gauge and even cast on. except i had gotten used to using crystal palace circulars and was working with clovers. the cotton yarn of her skirt dragged on the clovers; i found myself pratically fighting every stitch. so, late one night/early one morning, after finishing the second row of 186 stitches of k2p1, i ripped it out. next day, went to the LYS and started to swatch on some crystal palace needles. and of course, the gauge was different. same needle size, different gauge. on the verge of not being good. easier knitting though, which was good. so i bought two cp needle sizes i did not have and went home to continue swatching. finally found the gauge on the same size needles i was planning to use for my shell. since i am to frugal to buy two pairs of the same size needle, the shell moves back to the line up and i start her skirt with the hope i can finish it in time for her to be able to wear it to school during the last of the warm season.

now i have done ribbing. i rib quite a bit in sock making. so when this pattern called for 2 inches of k2p1 ribbing, i thought, no problem. i can rib. but for some reason i can't. i can't get this k2p1 rib. i knit merrily along, then take a look at my knitting to find in some places i have k2p2 and in some places i have k2p1! so backwards i knit to correct the mistakes. just to find i have done them again! and again! and yet again! very early this morning, i was on the verge of ripping the whole thing out and once again starting from scratch, when the calm, less emotional voice whispered in my ear that my perspective may change if i slept on it and took a look at the ribbing later. and miracuoulsy i actually listened to the calm, less emotional voice, gathered up yarns and needles and put them in the bag to be looked at rationally in the daylight. it may not be today's daylight, but it will be some days' daylight.

until then, i may take a look at some more shawl patterns.

No comments: