Monday, June 15, 2009

Weekend knitting

After recovering from getting the Meditation Mittens pattern all set and posted, I spent the weekend working on projects I can't talk about because they're for publication elsewhere.

!!!

And while I'm on that subject, I must say I am learning a great deal about pattern-making this year. For example,

a/ There is no point in getting emotionally attached to the number patterns in the size you design, because when you are finished you will have to figure out three or four more sizes and the numbers will all change and not be as pretty.

b/ It's helpful to write the pattern down before you knit it, while you are still enthusiastic enough even for for the writing down part, because later you probably will not be.

c/ No matter how thorough you are in writing down the pattern before you knit it, if you are me, you will be rewriting it as you go, scrawling all over the paper little curse pictures for forgetting to note things like pattern maintenance while increasing and decreasing, and the stabilization of stocking stitch edges.

d/ You can knit a lot of flat things with strings of double-pointed needles, but it will take longer and your tension will show the lack of motivation to go forth and find straight needles in the correct size and length.

e/ This is especially true if your sample knitting is done while sitting over the axle in a vehicle moving over a concrete highway.

f/ If you are going to knit at all under such conditions, it is best to accept only icing dipped donuts, which do not leave sticky residue on your fingers like honey dip (allover sugar) or old fashioned glazed (ditto.)

g/ Rewriting the pattern will be challenging if multitasking efforts include watching a movie, particularly if it is one you saw in the theatre when it was first released, and more so if you're pretty sure it was at a drive-in, in which case you may be distracted by 1/whether or not that is true, 2/if so, with whom you saw it, and 3/why you are watching it again instead of being responsible and resolving all those little pattern issues because after all it's not like you haven't seen it before somewhere.


Plus I learned a lot about yarn and the importance of wrist-strength training for marathon knitting, neither of which is likely to be as important to you as this:

The movie was The Goonies, which did come out in June in a year that falls into my personal drive-in era, and I kept flashing back to crickets and mosquitoes while watching it, which I think is a Big Clue, don't you?

And now I will get back to my needles.

2 comments:

Binnie said...

Most excellent blog today. I especially appreciate the donut-eating tip.
Will someone please knit me these gorgeous mittens? Donut-eating tip above. Thank you.

Kathleen Taylor said...

50 dollar bill.... 50 dollar bill... 50 dollar bill... Andie, you are such a goonie....

(it's one of our favorite movies, shot at one of our favorite places in the world: Cannon Beach).

About the pattern writing: never as much fun as it sounds...