Mr. Ineebrio singing *K1P2* must’ve put a spell on me yesterday because I CAN’t LET IT GO!
AnnMarie writes:
“Knit One, Purl Two is a Glenn Miller song!”
YES, indeedy!
June 21, 1942
“The Examiner patriotic song “Knit One, Purl Two” was recorded by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra. Words to the song appeared in the American Weekly section of today’s newspaper.”“Knit one, purl two
This sweater, my darling,
unblocked front pieces of a Ribby Cardi
Knitting on the #66 is always a challenge
(and somtimes a spectacle).
Spy the little knitted pieces above and the unkowing, unknitting eye would see…
A SCARF?!
Lately, my new Bus Mate has been a test Ribby Cardi; so far, the fronts, and 1.75 sleeves are done.
Last night on my way home from work, a fellow passenger took more than a passing interest in my work. His Happy Hour, I believe, had been going on since maybe Lunch and now it was Dinnertime, and like millions of inebrieated folk who’ve gone before, it was time to SING! About my SCARF!
SO, standing in front of my seat, he sort of sang over me, “K1P2”, over and over…
(YES! The universal Mantra of Knitting is KNOWN and revered, in every Urban NOOK & Cranny on the GLOBE! I can just SEE it in my mind’s eye – after every CUB VICTORY, in every tavern in the City, the mugs held high, the crowd swaying back and forth, singing softly, K1P2, K1P2…)
Did this have the intended effect on me (which I assume was to enable me to relax and provide a metronome like cadence so I could knit the *Scarf* faster…)?
Well, no… IT DIDN’T!
AND WHY?
Because I’d reached my breaking point on the concept of ye olde *K1P2*!
Where the heck have you ever SEEN this combination worked on a sweater!?~
K2P2, maybe. The Ribby above is 2x2x3x1 ribbing.
But, K1P2? Please enlighten me and HELP ME get back on the bus today…
Can you DIG the intricate bodice shaping
that produces a wonderful sensation of
LIFT & SEPERATE!
YES! There is CUPPAGE!
WARNING: an unseemly, really snitty RANT follows…
BUT, this delightful looking cardi is a sincerely dangerous piece of work!
I’ve been working on it for awhile now (last winter, teeeheeehee) and always STALL…
The Reason: the Pattern
It is from the delightful designers @Rebecca. Never have I found a company with more titillating and innovative designs. I delight in their offerings. I want to make and wear most of them.
I am tortured by their translations. I am mentally squeezed by the brevity of the length of the patterns.
How can you take a complicated, extremely shaped, lacy creation and distill the instructions down to about four paragraphs? I know, I know, the fabulous European knitters don’t NEED any hand holding, BUT WHAT THE ****!
IMHO, it seems, and I have every issue for several seasons, that these tomes are put through an industrial strength meat-grinder universal translator with the results never being read or used by an English speaking person! Now I’m not asking they be read and used by an idiomatic urban inner city speaker/reader like myself…
HERE’s the ChicKnits Boatneck Shell Pattern shizzolated…
I’m just wondering who the H is supposed to be able to understand these translations?
Now as a writer whose A** has been flamed hither and yon on some of these same issues, I have to say kindly: WHAT THE ****!
I spent most of the evenings of my PRECIOUS WEEKEND knitting the Front of my cardi OVER AND OVER. I was doing 4 things at the same time:
working a lace pattern
decreasing for an armhole
shaping a bodice
decreasing for a neckline
Now, I’ve routinely done these things on other garments with NO PROBLEM! But on this one, the directions were so convoluted it put me on the ropes over and over. I’d get one set of instructions right then blow the next.
RIPPIT.
Get the neckline squared away and miss the beginning of the armhole decreases. Score on the AHD and totally screw up the lace pattern.
OH > the lace pattern > given in a two by one inch square graph > left to your imagination > for a wide variety of use > on the body of the sweater > on the neck > on the sleeves. That’s like trusting me with a box of rocks…
Now, I know that patterns need to be brief to keep production costs down. I know some designers take huge personal pride in condensing their instructions as much as humanly possible (and why this is such a point of pride is beyond me).
But please, people, we knitters are paying through the nose for the book to begin with, it comes with NO pattern support, and we really, really WANT to make your stuff because it’s so brilliant! Why make it SO HARD for us to do?
BTW: it still hasn’t apologized…
