Skip to main content

I Killed the Cotton Blend

Murderer! Apparently it is possible to "kill" your yarn and I did it, though I will plead to manslaughter since there was no intent to "kill".

This morning at my LYS, a fellow knitting aficionado, began showing me the finer points of using the mattress stitch to join garment pieces. All at once I had an epiphany, this garment looks too wide and short. I panicked. I already knew that the length-wise gauge was off, adding one more diamond shape would have gotten me to get the proper length, but let's face it...we don't know what we don't know. I had already decided that a half shirt was perfectly acceptable and my daughter, the intended recipient, would likely wear it to the beach with her blue jeans. A quick measure confirmed my newest fear. The garment that I'd been loving working on, frogging, re-knitting, measuring and toiling over grew 2 inches in girth. It was a tragedy! Did you get that? A TRAGEDY! "How could this happen to me?" I asked.

Then all at once I knew...it measured up correctly BEFORE the blocking process. Now, I have no choice but to admit the unabashed truth. I have been using a short-cut method when it comes to "blocking" my knitting. When I want something to lay down properly, I take my trusty steam iron and go right after the unruly article. Once upon a time, I would wet two kitchen towels then apply the iron but soon discarded the pretense of the towels which seemed to serve no real purpose but definitely lengthened the process. Apparently there was some underlying wisdom to blocking technique and I had to learn the hard way. My chosen yarn was Weekend by Berroco, a cotton/acrylic blend that knits up nicely. My partners-in-crime at my LYS, explained that acrylic is p-l-a-s-t-i-c, and when you apply heat to acrylic (a.k.a. plastic) it loses it's shape, bounce, and essentially...its life. ARRGGHH! Who knew?

Yesterday, visions of my masterpiece arriving on my daughter's doorstep flashed before my mind's eye. I felt so complete, so "at one" with my art form and so fulfilled as a mother. Oh well, back to the drawing board. And would my daughter have been as pleased as I visualized. Likely not. Here's a reminder...keep it real, Tina. Keep it real. Did I enjoy knitting? Yes. Did I learn something? Oh, most definitely. Am I willing to give up this activity because I muffed it again? Nope. I'll take my lessons learned and keep on a'knittin'!!! Here's my new motto going forward: Be Kind to the Cotton.

FYI: LYS is short for local yarn store


Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Remember...

I remember catching fireflies,  putting them in a jar, as a girl of five. I picked pears off a tree that overhung an alleyway on my route home from school, then enjoyed the forbidden fruit. .I had a golden cat who chased a gray mouse through our living room sending my mother, 3-year old sister, and me screaming atop the sofa and chairs. We lived in a farmhouse and I watched Romper Room. A daddy longlegs skittered across my dirty kid legs as I teeter-tottered on a broken kitchen chair back. I played grocery store and laid out a bedroll for group nap time in preschool. We lived in an apartment attached to a bakery. My maternal grandparents visited and a photo was snapped. Grandma held Dawn and Grandpa held me. I held Grandpa's chin. Walking through the back of the flour-caked kitchen, I saw scrumptious pastries and colorful toys stuck in the cupcakes with my hungry kids eyes. We lived in a two-story apartment building next door to a large farmer's field.  That field was my...
3 comments
Read more

Gratitude For Reading

People are reading my blog! I cannot express my gratitude enough. My heart is soaring! Before I got ALS, it was a minor interest amongst many varied interests. Today, I am unable to physically participate in many of my prior interests, like motorcycling, photography, knitting and other handicrafts, hiking, traveling, painting, drawing, going to the gym, working in the garden, doing housework, canning, and cooking gourmet or ethnic foods. Therefore, I am more focused on the ones that are most accessible to me, such as reading via audiobook or e-book, television, movies, meditation, music appreciation, and writing. Like the blind man who's sense of hearing and smell is heightened, I'd like to think my crippled body has made me more attuned to things more on the spiritual and sensual level. Initially, when some members of my family read my blog, they chose to focus on what they viewed as negative. The feedback I got was harsh and personally critical. .I was told that I was ...
4 comments
Read more

Tuesday

Tuesday is shaping up to be my best day of the week. Every day holds the requisite eating, changing, television, and napping. But Tuesday, I got a glorious, hot bath in a handicap-accessible bathtub with my Angela and Lisa, reorganized my shower caddy with my Lisa, read "The White Album" by Joan Didion with my Lindsey, "supervised" doughnut-making and sampled same with my Sandra among others, and listened to Ryan Feng play classical piano. A new book fell into my lap today. Of course, I mean that figuratively. "Play It As It Lays" by Joan Didion was just laying on top of the informal Bailey Boushay House library cart, so I borrowed it. .Guess what we'll be reading? I feel very blessed!
2 comments
Read more