"I cut it."
First there was a collective gasp from the three other knitters at the table and then the Shop went eerily quiet. As I stared at the mess in my lap that is Karen's magnificent Lady Eleanor Entrelac wrap, I could feel all eyes upon me and they waited in silence.
I slowly raised my head and said to my dear friend,
"You did what?"
"She cut it!" Lauren gleefully shouted as she literally bounced in place. (Who knew Miss Lauren could be such a minx!)
The air was thick with anticipation and I said,
"Oh that explains why there are three loose strands of yarn here that are not attached at all to any recently knitted stitches."
"She cut it!" Lauren squealed with delight as she flitted past my chair. "She cut it, she cut it, she cut it!"
Karen crossed her arms, looked at me ferociously and said,
"Yeah, I cut it. I cut it. I lost my place, I started to rip and I couldn't figure out my mistake so I got mad and I cut it. So there, I cut it."
Just then her phone rang and I could hear her husband Chris, I mean Job, on the other end.
"I can't talk right now. I just finished telling Tricia that I cut it."
"You cut it?" I heard him say, "Even I know not to do that for heaven's sake. Oooh, baby are you in trouble. I'll talk to you later." Click.
I took a deep breath.
"You did more than cut it, sister. There are THREE loose strands of yarn here that are not attached to any recently knitted stitches. There's one attached to the square you're working on, but it's one row down. There's another strand about three rows down, and the third is attached to another, already worked square two rows down. At least all of the loose strands are on the same tier."
I started pulling. I say pulling because I had to pull the yarn through the stitches which is definitely not the same as ripping.
"I know you can fix it," she said defiantly, "that's why I stopped working on it and brought it to you. You can fix it; go ahead, fix it."
"Geez, where's the supplication?" I thought as I tried to figure out what in the hell she had done.
I pulled and I pulled, only dealing with the strand closest to the stitches on the needle and finally got it through enough stitches and rows that it was actually attached to live stitches. Then I could rip.
And rip I did. I had to rip back to at least to the squares that were on the left needle which I knew were complete. But I had to rip to the square and row that contained the last loose strand. This consisted of ripping three squares and unfortunately the right triangle (those triangles can be tricky).
At long last, the yarn was attached to the last square on the left needle and she could move forward, going left to right and back again.
The crowd cheered.
Karen said, "I knew you could do it."
Lauren did a little jig and I said,
"Aw shucks. If you ever cut again, I'll kill you."
Special shout out to Bonnie! Thanks for the giant plastic Elvis sheets!
Bonnie went to Memphis over the weekend with the specific mission of going to Graceland. She stopped by the Shop before she left to pick up some needles for the trip. We teased her a little about Graceland and asked her to bring back the most garish Elvis souvenir she could find for $1.99.
Well, it was $4.99, but worth every penny! It's the Scene Setters Elvis Decorations Kit. The package contains two five foot plastic images of Elvis that are hung on the wall! "Looks great with Scene Setters Room and Border Rolls!"
One is Elvis in a white suit with a microphone and the other (now hanging in the Shop) is Elvis in a fabulous gold lame suit and he's wearing a bolo and a ruffly shirt! Stop by the Shop to see him in all his golden glory!
My first square of the Great American Afghan is complete and gorgeous. You can see it at the Shop and I'll post pictures soon. The second is well on its way to completion.
I slowly raised my head and said to my dear friend,
"You did what?"
"She cut it!" Lauren gleefully shouted as she literally bounced in place. (Who knew Miss Lauren could be such a minx!)
The air was thick with anticipation and I said,
"Oh that explains why there are three loose strands of yarn here that are not attached at all to any recently knitted stitches."
"She cut it!" Lauren squealed with delight as she flitted past my chair. "She cut it, she cut it, she cut it!"
Karen crossed her arms, looked at me ferociously and said,
"Yeah, I cut it. I cut it. I lost my place, I started to rip and I couldn't figure out my mistake so I got mad and I cut it. So there, I cut it."
Just then her phone rang and I could hear her husband Chris, I mean Job, on the other end.
"I can't talk right now. I just finished telling Tricia that I cut it."
"You cut it?" I heard him say, "Even I know not to do that for heaven's sake. Oooh, baby are you in trouble. I'll talk to you later." Click.
I took a deep breath.
"You did more than cut it, sister. There are THREE loose strands of yarn here that are not attached to any recently knitted stitches. There's one attached to the square you're working on, but it's one row down. There's another strand about three rows down, and the third is attached to another, already worked square two rows down. At least all of the loose strands are on the same tier."
I started pulling. I say pulling because I had to pull the yarn through the stitches which is definitely not the same as ripping.
"I know you can fix it," she said defiantly, "that's why I stopped working on it and brought it to you. You can fix it; go ahead, fix it."
"Geez, where's the supplication?" I thought as I tried to figure out what in the hell she had done.
I pulled and I pulled, only dealing with the strand closest to the stitches on the needle and finally got it through enough stitches and rows that it was actually attached to live stitches. Then I could rip.
And rip I did. I had to rip back to at least to the squares that were on the left needle which I knew were complete. But I had to rip to the square and row that contained the last loose strand. This consisted of ripping three squares and unfortunately the right triangle (those triangles can be tricky).
At long last, the yarn was attached to the last square on the left needle and she could move forward, going left to right and back again.
The crowd cheered.
Karen said, "I knew you could do it."
Lauren did a little jig and I said,
"Aw shucks. If you ever cut again, I'll kill you."
Special shout out to Bonnie! Thanks for the giant plastic Elvis sheets!
Bonnie went to Memphis over the weekend with the specific mission of going to Graceland. She stopped by the Shop before she left to pick up some needles for the trip. We teased her a little about Graceland and asked her to bring back the most garish Elvis souvenir she could find for $1.99.
Well, it was $4.99, but worth every penny! It's the Scene Setters Elvis Decorations Kit. The package contains two five foot plastic images of Elvis that are hung on the wall! "Looks great with Scene Setters Room and Border Rolls!"
One is Elvis in a white suit with a microphone and the other (now hanging in the Shop) is Elvis in a fabulous gold lame suit and he's wearing a bolo and a ruffly shirt! Stop by the Shop to see him in all his golden glory!
My first square of the Great American Afghan is complete and gorgeous. You can see it at the Shop and I'll post pictures soon. The second is well on its way to completion.
posted by Tricia | 10:00 AM
3 Comments:
Ok, here's my side of the story:
Since Tricia is known as the "Queen of Technical" or more easily said "Queen of Fixing Boo-Boo's", I now knit more confidentially with the knowledge that Tricia likes to be challenged. And, Tricia, wasn't Friday's fix-it episode a bit of a challenge? For one nano second, I had thoughts of having to rip all 72 inches of Lady Eleanor but then the earth tremored slightly and all was right on my knitting needles!
Now, if you could work the same type of magic on Job and his monkey arms so that we wouldn't need to celebrate the Second Anniversary of the Incomplete Man Sweater.....
Karen
OK, so here's the prequel to today's blog...
It seems like years ago that Karen announced she was signing up for an intrerlocken (I really don't care how its spelled)class with Trisha and she was making a shawl. When she arrived home after the first class, I couldn't help but notice Karen's frustration. It reminded me of her first knitting class when her teacher told her she was a dumb knitter. She spent several hours hunched over her needles and finally announced she couldn't figure out how to make the dumb squares. I figured "dumb" was a knitting term, like "pearl".
I am not embarassed to say I was somewhat slow to encourage her, as the reality of wearing my long anticipated cardigan was becoming clearer... kinda like the photograph in Back To The Future where parts of the family photo were coming into view based on Marty's steps to get his parents to meet at the "Under the Sea" dance.
Much to my dismay, Karen returned to the class in the following weeks and late one evening announced "I've got the hang of this!" (See fading of my cardigan in the photo). Given the scope of this undertaking, I figured it was simply a phase Karen was going through and the shawl would soon be heaped on the ottoman (Read knitting storage table) in the family room. While I would have to give up power lounging with my feet up, I figured it was worth the sacrifice for the vision of those chilly winter evenings in my sweater.
I was wrong... The shawl has expanded into a landscape roughly the size of a california king comforter and sucked up knitting hours like a shop vac handles sawdust.
So when Karen announced she had only one more row of squares to go, I was both relieved and somewhat optimistic. (See the photo)
A few minutes later, I couldn't help but notice that things had gone quiet... Tooooooo quiet.
Being a regular observer to Karen and her sticks, I've coined a phrase when she goes quiet (not her normal state) and I notice that her right index finger is entirely wrapped in yarn, namely "Tinking". Tink is knit spelled backwards and is my term for Karen's retreat to recover from the potential embarassment of the "Boo Boo".
I've noticed that when tinking expands beyond 30 minutes, tink progresses to the "rip" (see "She's ripping it" blog entry). The sticks are unburdened of their stiches and the unraveling begins (the yarn comes undone too!).
After what seemed like hours of sighs, gasps and occasional comments like "I can't find my boo boo!", I saw a metallic flash out of the corner of my eye. Turning my head sharply I caught sight of the unthinkable...Karen unsheathing her scissors. I felt as though the world had switched to slow motion as I leapt towards the steel tipped intstruments of destruction and my shouts of "Noooooooooo....." were drowned out like warning shouts on windy days.
Snip... Snip... Snip
I was too late. Karen seemed strangely at peace with her actions. "Trisha will fix it" she said smuggly, "I know she can do it."
In some way, Karen has made Trisha a better knitter... pushing her to the limits of knitting disasters. After Karen, I figure Trisha can handle anything...
So now you know the rest of the story...
Chris (aka Job)
OMG No! She didn't. Did she? Really?
My heart just fell into my stomach.
I think I may have to cry.
You were able to fix it? Dear lord woman, you should be up for knitting sainthood!
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