Huh?
Ever have one of those times when you look at a pattern and say “huh?”
Where you read it twice, because what you’re seeing can’t possibly be right? I had that reaction with the first direction of this nifty little bag.
“Cast on 30 stitches using waste yarn.” Oh, I say to myself, some kind of provisional cast on we’ll lose later. After all, the materials list reminds us to use a “waste yarn in a high contrast to main color.” I grabbed some of the turquoise I had left over from my Cables Building Block, an almost alarming contrast to the pinky-purpley tone of my splendid main color yarn.
It was the next part that threw me. “Work six rows in stockinette.” Six rows? Why on earth am I going to need six rows of alarming turquoise? I’ve read through the directions and I’m still not sure how this plays out. Someone should warn designer Karen Gress that she may end up getting a panicked email from me about two weeks from now.
Still, I’m not ready to hit the panic button just yet. Entrelac, Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise Jacket, and eleven years of teenage parenting have taught me never to panic until instructed to do so.
I prefer to believe the old saying “Everything will be all right in the end. If everything is not yet all right, then it is not yet the end.”
It’s nowhere near the end. It’s just beginning. Rather than muck around in my confusion, I am choosing to see this as a yarn adventure.
And you know my talent for adventure.
Did you ever have a pattern stump you from the get-go like this? How did it turn out? Horror stories and victory tales equally welcome...
4 comments:
OOOOHHHH!!!! I can help you with this one!!! Yes I can!!!!
I took Karen's class on making this bag, so I know exactly what to do and why!
You really really really want it to be high contrast yarn, because once the bag itself is knitted, you are going to graft the two ends together, and the high contrast color helps you see what you're doing. Well, at least it helped me. It was the first time I grafted anything.
It's cool, trust me!
And you've given me incentive to knit along with you to finish my bag. We didn't do the very last part because we ran out of time in class. I've been really sick since then, so I haven't touched my knitting.
My first two attempts at Tunisian entrelac were patterns that left me scratching my head. I did eventually get the hang of it, and I adore Tunisian entrelac these days. I also love your coral-y yarn choice. :-)
Kimberly, the internet ate your comment asking about the colorway. It's colorway #4: Rose Orange Purple.
Post a Comment