I’ve recently started using test and sample knitters (yeah!) and it’s been a very good experience. I just got a lovely sweater back from Laura (hi Laura!) that was magnificently knit. It was, however, too long – entirely my fault – and just didn’t have the look I wanted.
The editor agreed when I sent her a photo, so I did a clever trick that some of you may have done, but it’s still fun to mention:
1) I selected a row about 3″ up from the bottom of the sweater (it was a camisole worked in the round, like a tube, in one piece.)
2) I pulled the yarn from that row – really hard – exactly what your mom always said not to do.
3) I cut the strand and gently eased the sts off of the cut yarn. Then I repeated that around the piece, slipping the new loops onto a smaller needle as I worked. The yarn was a fingering weight merino, so it stood up nicely to the process.
4) Then I used the loops I’d picked up and worked down a few rows in ribbing (the way the garment was originally finished)
5) I worked an elastic-ish bindoff as follows:
. . . Prep row, [work 1 st, slip 1 st] rep to end of round.
. . . BO Round: BO as normal, but loosely.
One thing to mention is that due to the structure of knitting, the loops I used weren’t actually stitches, but the spaces between the stitches. That meant that I just had to suck it up that my ribbing wasn’t going to be an exact match (each stitch was 1/2 stitch off when moving from the 2×2 ribbing in the body into the 2×2 ribbing in the hem) but that’s hardly discernable, and not an issue when working from the St st portions of the piece.
Apprehension = Not Very Nice
It was suggested that I bring a friend to drive because of some drug I’ll be given (mmmm, drugs…) so my good knittin’ friend Amie is kindly taking me to the hospital today. I didn’t feel that I was terribly apprehensive, until the Bus Incident yesterday.
My kids catch a school bus 1-1/2 blocks from our home. Recently it’s been hard for me to walk more than a block or so (especially outside in the cold, when I can’t seem to catch my breath) so for the past 3 mornings we haven’t made it all the way to the actual bus stop. We’ve only made it to the corner near my house, then I have to stop and breathe, and while I’m catching my breath the bus comes by.
The driver – who is not the most concilliatory of folks – was pretty unhappy with me yesterday. I do understand. He is required to stop AT THE STOP and can get in trouble legally for not doing so. But I also just haven’t been able to get to the stop. I felt like such a feeb, wheezing and trying to explain while he’s saying, “You just HAVE TO GET YOURSELF to the BUS STOP!” I was trying to explain yesterday, he couldn’t hear me, I didn’t want to talk too loudly because I didn’t want every kid on the bus to know my kids’ moms’ business. So Joe got off the bus and I explained that I’m sick – and I may have implied that my trip to the hospital today was going to be a longer term visit than it actually will be. I am evil. (He still yelled at me, though…)
So later that afternoon I got a call from Tony Soprano. I swear, this guy WAS James Gandolfini, only not as suave. Apparently it was Jimmy, of Jimmy’s Transportation, and he was calling to read me the riot act for not having my kids at the bus stop. We all know what a mess I am on the phone, “What? Excuse me? I didn’t understand what you just said…” and it was NOT a pleasant phone conversation “Lady, you’re being UNREASONABLE!” Well, yes, I guess I was.
Long story short, I had to call the board of education to get permission for the bus to stop 1/2 block earlier than it already does. Which they gave me, grudgingly. “Lady, if we do this for you, EVERYONE will want us to do this for them!” Oh, f’heavenssake – the bus goes RIGHT PAST MY FRONT DOOR. And I’m not even asking for door to door service! I just want to not have to walk the extra block when I can’t!
So this morning I sent the kids off unescorted. TO be honest, it shouldn’t be such a big deal. In 2 years Hannah will be walking a mile to school (middle school) on her own, and quite often there IS another parent at the bus stop. But the district rule is that a parent has to escort the kids to the stop – which I understand. I told the kids if they got to the near corner (where I can see them from the house) and could see a parent at the far corner, to go on ahead, which they did. They walked on out of sight – alone – and Atticus and I watched them. He was more upset than I was. Well, he showed it more.