Monday, May 16, 2011

Baffled by Sticks, Knots, and Loops in Barnegat

B is for Baffled...                                      

I dabbled a little with knitting when I was pregnant with my first child thirty some years ago.  Circumstances led me back to it about two years ago.

We were visiting my son and his family in Sarasota, Florida.  We wandered into an antique shop and were very surprised to see that one half of the shop was actually a yarn store called Picasso Moon Yarn. A group of women were sitting around in old rockers in one corner of the shop.  They were cocooned amongst bins of wonderful, soft, pettable yarns of yummy colors.

I was drawn to the seemingly calm, peaceful, and warmth of the place.  The owner approached me and asked if I needed help.  I told her that I would like to start knitting and wanted to know if she could recommend a starter pattern.

Not only did she recommend a pattern, but she had me sit in one of the rockers, handed me a pair of circular needles, a skein of raspberry wool  and proceeded to teach me a long tail cast on.

"You are going to make a felted bag," she said.   "I, am?" I replied.

She said, "Look, you just keep going around and around until this gets to be about 15 inches.  Then come back and I'll show you how to finish it off."  I was totally baffled.

I said okay and did what I was told.  As I was knitting around and around, I couldn't figure out how this thing was going to turn into a felted purse.  And even after I finished it and it actually did turn into a purse, I was still baffled.



You see I am a Left brain knitter.  That means that I knit using the verbal analytic side of my brain.

I have to assume that Right brain knitters can look at a Rhododendron bush in full bloom and visualize a sweater pattern in those exact colors.



Me?  Nope.  I can't do that.

When I decided I needed a challenge and tried a sock pattern for the first time, I was baffled and amazed   that by following the step by step instructions I would wind up with something to keep my feet warm.

  I had and still have no concept of how this:



 turns into that.



Yes, I am using two different skeins of yarn.  That's the only way I can figure out "the knitting two socks  on two circulars needles" thing.  And yes, I know it kinda defeats the purpose of winding up with two socks that are the same and not having that one sock syndrome...but, it's that Left Brain thing again.


Wash cloths I can kinda get.  I have been knitting those lately.  As I follow the pattern along I sorta understand how the purl bumps make the design.  I'm still working on figuring out those yarn over things.

I thought that maybe if I attempted to create a wash cloth design of my own, I would have a better understanding of how it all works.

I spent hours drawing the most simple of shapes.  I chose a heart and the letter G.  Then I spent another few hours trying to figure out the center of the cloth.  After many iterations of my design



 (and I use that term loosely) I wound up with this.



There were more hours of writing out the instructions, because, of that verbal, analyitical thing.

After I completed the cloth, I was disappointed that the letter G didn't come out exactly the way my Left brain had visualized it.  I need to work on that.  Actually, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


You see, I still am baffled by how loops, and knots on sticks, turn bumps and v's into letters and hearts.

But, during the process, I felt that somehow, my Left Brain and my Right Brain were finally talking to one another.

22 comments:

  1. I still watch my knitting in amazement as I'm doing it - thinking "I have 2 sticks and a ball of string... And I'm making fabric" It baffles me too ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Even if you are still baffled, your projects are absolutely lovely!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My Mum is a right brainer, she can just look at anything and imagine it painted etc. I think in words, so when I see something in my mind I see it written down on a piece of paper. But well done on the bag, and the socks, they're very good :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are so cute! I love how you described the fight that goes on in my head when I read a new pattern that a right brain person wrote... lol.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is so familiar to me. As another left brainer who thinks in lists. I worried about it and took a design course and the best thing about that was I learned to look at the world around me without trying to list or label it.
    It's practice is all - you're on the right road.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I do want to learn the 2 stick method for socks, like you are showing.

    I don't wonder too much about how I do it, what always amazed me is SOMEONE figured this out at sometime.... I would like to have been in their brain when they did :P

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well, I think you've just explained something I hadn't realised - I am definitely a left-brainer!

    I think your washcloth looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh I know exactly what you mean about the socks. I was totally baffled as to how I would end up with a sock if I followed what the pattern was saying. I was told to just do what it says, and surprise surprise, I came out with a sock! As to your washcloth, to make it look more like a G, I would suggest doing a double rather than single layer or purl stitches, so it's more obvious!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm making a bag??? And the rest is history.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your baffling is beautiful! It is remarkable how it all works out, isn't it? I'm still awestruck at how one stitch after another after another becomes a wearable garment!

    ReplyDelete
  12. As a left-brainer as well, I can't believe your first project was that purse! Absolutely stunning. Not only are you an outstanding knitter, but a writer as well. I really enjoyed your piece.

    ReplyDelete
  13. As a left-brainer as well, I can't believe your first project was that purse! Absolutely stunning. Not only are you an outstanding knitter, but a writer as well. I really enjoyed your piece.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your baffling is beautiful! It is remarkable how it all works out, isn't it? I'm still awestruck at how one stitch after another after another becomes a wearable garment!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh I know exactly what you mean about the socks. I was totally baffled as to how I would end up with a sock if I followed what the pattern was saying. I was told to just do what it says, and surprise surprise, I came out with a sock! As to your washcloth, to make it look more like a G, I would suggest doing a double rather than single layer or purl stitches, so it's more obvious!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Well, I think you've just explained something I hadn't realised - I am definitely a left-brainer!

    I think your washcloth looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is so familiar to me. As another left brainer who thinks in lists. I worried about it and took a design course and the best thing about that was I learned to look at the world around me without trying to list or label it.
    It's practice is all - you're on the right road.

    ReplyDelete
  18. My Mum is a right brainer, she can just look at anything and imagine it painted etc. I think in words, so when I see something in my mind I see it written down on a piece of paper. But well done on the bag, and the socks, they're very good :D

    ReplyDelete
  19. Even if you are still baffled, your projects are absolutely lovely!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I still watch my knitting in amazement as I'm doing it - thinking "I have 2 sticks and a ball of string... And I'm making fabric" It baffles me too ;)

    ReplyDelete
  21. thank you for writing about me and my store...............please come back and visit......i just wanted to throw my shop's name in the blog....
    www.picassosmoonyarn.cp,

    ReplyDelete
  22. I edited the actual post to include a link to your store.   

    ReplyDelete