Friday, January 20, 2006
how to knit really slowly
This week was busy, busy, busy, since I returned to school and suddenly found myself studying and missing out on sleep yet again. I am just the kind of nerd that will probably go to school my entire life, but dang! It is so much easier when you don’t work, too.
My Pharmacology professor puts me to shame, though. She is a paramedic and works a 48-hr shift on weekends, goes to school full time during the week for a mortuary science degree, and teaches Pharmacology two nights a week. She is obviously not an Urban Lazy Girl.
I did find some time yesterday to start the Jaywalker socks with my new Regia yarn, which was an exercise in not tearing my hair out by the roots. You see, I knit wrong. I taught myself to knit a couple years ago from Stitch ‘N Bitch, but my fingers are just not dexterous enough to knit in either the English or Continental method. It should be stated here that I have an unusually incompetent left hand. My left hand, with its lack of coordination, is virtually useless, and is one reason why I have never been able to play guitar or dribble a basketball on the left side of the court (tip: if you ever play basketball with me, I will ALWAYS drive down the right side).
I eventually came up with my own knitting method, which I’ll call the Useless Left Hand Method. I prop the left needle up on my leg so that I don’t have to waste precious fingers holding it up in the air. That way I can use all my fingers to wrap the yarn around the right needle and get it pulled through.
(And to all you old ladies that have told me how WRONG this method is while I am waiting for my car at the oil change place, mind your own business! The Useless Left Hand Method cares not for your rules!)
So anyway. It’s very hard to prop up one of four DPN’s on my leg to knit this sock. So I ended up sometimes doing it my way, and sometimes trying to knit correctly, which usually took even longer since I CAN’T DO IT. It was really a mess at first, and I had to start over a couple times entirely, but it did get easier after a few hours.
And look! It only took me three hours of knitting to finish seven rows!
My Pharmacology professor puts me to shame, though. She is a paramedic and works a 48-hr shift on weekends, goes to school full time during the week for a mortuary science degree, and teaches Pharmacology two nights a week. She is obviously not an Urban Lazy Girl.
I did find some time yesterday to start the Jaywalker socks with my new Regia yarn, which was an exercise in not tearing my hair out by the roots. You see, I knit wrong. I taught myself to knit a couple years ago from Stitch ‘N Bitch, but my fingers are just not dexterous enough to knit in either the English or Continental method. It should be stated here that I have an unusually incompetent left hand. My left hand, with its lack of coordination, is virtually useless, and is one reason why I have never been able to play guitar or dribble a basketball on the left side of the court (tip: if you ever play basketball with me, I will ALWAYS drive down the right side).
I eventually came up with my own knitting method, which I’ll call the Useless Left Hand Method. I prop the left needle up on my leg so that I don’t have to waste precious fingers holding it up in the air. That way I can use all my fingers to wrap the yarn around the right needle and get it pulled through.
(And to all you old ladies that have told me how WRONG this method is while I am waiting for my car at the oil change place, mind your own business! The Useless Left Hand Method cares not for your rules!)
So anyway. It’s very hard to prop up one of four DPN’s on my leg to knit this sock. So I ended up sometimes doing it my way, and sometimes trying to knit correctly, which usually took even longer since I CAN’T DO IT. It was really a mess at first, and I had to start over a couple times entirely, but it did get easier after a few hours.
And look! It only took me three hours of knitting to finish seven rows!
# posted by katie @ 7:37 AM 
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Katie!!! That's awesome! Awesome, awesome, really!
I've seen quite a few people who cram their needle between their thighs or under their armpit (you know, with those honkin long needles) to knit. I say, whatever works. It is about the finished project.
You should also know that I started Pomona1 like oh, 6 bajillion times.
I've seen quite a few people who cram their needle between their thighs or under their armpit (you know, with those honkin long needles) to knit. I say, whatever works. It is about the finished project.
You should also know that I started Pomona1 like oh, 6 bajillion times.
Thanks for the encouragement, Rosemary. I'm almost to the zigzag pattern--I have a feeling I'll be ripping that back a gagillion times once I start!
I don't remember from whom, where or how I heard this but "The only wrong way to do something, is to not do it at all." I assume they didn't mean such things as brain surgery. I imagine there are an infinite number of ways to do that wrong. But the idea is that your doing it and as long as how you do it works for you, what the hell difference does it make that it's not the textbook way of making it happen. If you like doing it and it makes you happy... That's all that matters!
rickus
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rickus
# posted by 
: 10:54 AM
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