Knitting Class, Week 3 Follow-up
Jun. 29th, 2010 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebWherein I learn that knitting and my job do not mix well
In my last long-held job, I learned that I had to be careful with the guitar practice and the rock climbing during periods of work when I had a lot of straight typing (most of my typing was editing rather than straight typing). During those periods, I learned that wearing wrist braces made a big difference. Of course people would come up to me and ask if I was okay. "Yes," I would say, "and I'd like to stay that way."
Well, before class #3, I had spent a couple of days intensely thinking the thoughts, "knit, knit, purl, purl, knit, knit, purl ..." which are very boring and repetitive thoughts, but necessary. If I got distracted for a second I would look down and see three or four of the same stitch in a row and have to fix them and then go back to thinking the boring thoughts.
Then in class I had to think continuously during the lace part, both because the pattern is a little complicated and because some of the stitches were new. More very boring thoughts.
Then I went to work and once again had to think highly detailed very boring thoughts for many hours in order to achieve a nice result. I am just not cut out for that. I came home after work the day after class and just slept the rest of the day and all night. I didn't touch my knitting again until Saturday. Then I easily finished my lace sample. I did find myself with 20 stitches on the row instead of the correct 19, but only once, and it was easy to fix.
Wherein I find that I love markers
Then I continued working on the hat. Done with the ribbing, I had easy, nearly thought-free knitting until the decreases. At which point I got to try out some markers. First I tried the plastic bread bag thingies. They fit perfectly over the needles but have a gap that might mean they can shift places. Also they are stiff and kind of in the way sometimes.
Next I tried loops of yarn. These worked great, especially since I had cream-colored cotton loops of yarn to mark my place in a dark brown wool knitting project.
And I love markers! They reduce the boring thinking considerably! Instead of having to count to eighteen (and then do a little something special) four times, then count to sixteen (and then do something special) four times, then fourteen, etc., I could just knit until I got to my marker (and then do something special).
Wherein a birthday gift is readied
I successfully finished the hat. (No, the decreases are not evenly spaced. No, no one is noticing.) It fits Robin's head just fine. He loves it. He insisted on proper lighting for this picture (the dark color of the hat wasn't working well in my usual low-light photo-taking area).
Wherein I confirm that my new lace-knitting skills are transferable
In class we did only "Knitting Sample 2" for some reason, so I went back and tried "Knitting Sample 1," also known as cat paws. This worked well. I didn't finish it before class, but I made only one mistake, which my instructor was able to quickly find--it happened about four rows before I noticed it. Because I wasn't using markers this time.
In my last long-held job, I learned that I had to be careful with the guitar practice and the rock climbing during periods of work when I had a lot of straight typing (most of my typing was editing rather than straight typing). During those periods, I learned that wearing wrist braces made a big difference. Of course people would come up to me and ask if I was okay. "Yes," I would say, "and I'd like to stay that way."
Well, before class #3, I had spent a couple of days intensely thinking the thoughts, "knit, knit, purl, purl, knit, knit, purl ..." which are very boring and repetitive thoughts, but necessary. If I got distracted for a second I would look down and see three or four of the same stitch in a row and have to fix them and then go back to thinking the boring thoughts.
Then in class I had to think continuously during the lace part, both because the pattern is a little complicated and because some of the stitches were new. More very boring thoughts.
Then I went to work and once again had to think highly detailed very boring thoughts for many hours in order to achieve a nice result. I am just not cut out for that. I came home after work the day after class and just slept the rest of the day and all night. I didn't touch my knitting again until Saturday. Then I easily finished my lace sample. I did find myself with 20 stitches on the row instead of the correct 19, but only once, and it was easy to fix.
Wherein I find that I love markers
Then I continued working on the hat. Done with the ribbing, I had easy, nearly thought-free knitting until the decreases. At which point I got to try out some markers. First I tried the plastic bread bag thingies. They fit perfectly over the needles but have a gap that might mean they can shift places. Also they are stiff and kind of in the way sometimes.
Next I tried loops of yarn. These worked great, especially since I had cream-colored cotton loops of yarn to mark my place in a dark brown wool knitting project.
And I love markers! They reduce the boring thinking considerably! Instead of having to count to eighteen (and then do a little something special) four times, then count to sixteen (and then do something special) four times, then fourteen, etc., I could just knit until I got to my marker (and then do something special).
Wherein a birthday gift is readied
I successfully finished the hat. (No, the decreases are not evenly spaced. No, no one is noticing.) It fits Robin's head just fine. He loves it. He insisted on proper lighting for this picture (the dark color of the hat wasn't working well in my usual low-light photo-taking area).
Wherein I confirm that my new lace-knitting skills are transferable
In class we did only "Knitting Sample 2" for some reason, so I went back and tried "Knitting Sample 1," also known as cat paws. This worked well. I didn't finish it before class, but I made only one mistake, which my instructor was able to quickly find--it happened about four rows before I noticed it. Because I wasn't using markers this time.