A BIGGER PROJECT

You know how it is -- you walk into the knit shop, only needing one little skein for a small project, like ankle warmers, the construction of which requires very little imput from the brain, and you walk out with $45.00 worth of Peruvian yarn and the pattern for a short jacket.

You didn't even spend much time thinking about it. You walked around the corner of the display shelves, and there it was, hanging about eye level, a jacket/shawl sort of thing, only you didn't especially like the color and even more enticingly, one of the clerks was making the same garment.

The pattern doesn't look too complicated, and if you have any difficulty, well, there's the clerk, quite a few stitches into the project, which is good, because if you have any trouble figuring it out, there she is, a ready resource. (Well, ezcept on Sunday or Monday when the shop is closed -- oh, how agonizing to have to wait until the shop opens again on Tuesady morning -- it is true, a harrowing experience, should it ever befall to you, yarn withdrawal symptoms.)

Even as I cast on 94 stitches, the highest amount, the biggest sise in the pattern, I knew the piece would not be long enough. Hardly fourteen rows, and I decided to take it all apart. Done with two threads, even more tedious to unravel.

I added 30 stitches, and then because I still had some length in the tail, add six more stitches -- 130 in all.

This is going to take a lot longer than a pair of ankle warmers.

AN EXCUSE FOR KNITTING

When was the last time I sat down and watched a television program? Normally, I hear far more than I see. Knitting gives me an excuse to sit down and listen to the programs.

The only programs that really capture my attention are a couple of Britcoms. One of them stars Nicholas Lyndhurst as a home remodeler, can't think of the name. The other is As Time Goes By, which usually has my full attention, especially the outdoor scenes. I'm convinced the home the couple lives in is in Bayswater, and that I have actually walked several times along that street.

Tonight as I watched I was trying to unravel a knitting project I've decided is not working. It was knit with double yarn, which made the unraveling all the more difficult. The garment is an assymetrical shawl type thing. I keep going back to the knitshop to look at a model on display.

Shirley, who works at the shop, has finished the same garment, and helped me get started. Today I remarked to her that the garment on display is not the same garment in the instruction booklet. She responded, almost like we were sharing a secret, that she had discovered the same discrepancy. Further, she was not satisfied and was considering unravelling all of hers and starting over.

I had only gotten about half of the first panel done before deciding to unravel and start over. And I had figured out the pattern. Now, there's something that takes my full concentration, can't allow myself to be distracted by television.

What I did learn is that I shouldn't be knitting when I should be purling.

BAMBOO WILL WEAR OUT

Bamboo needles wear out. I should have been prepared. I bought my first pair very reluctantly, thinking that the shafts would not be sturdy enough, and they soon became my favorites. Metal knitting needles have become my absolutely, avoided-whenever-possible, last choice, and plastic needles are hardly any better.

Sadly, I've now discovered, the points will eventually show some wear. The erosion is visible, as the points are now misshapen, but even worse, the new irregular shape creates an inaudible click at every stitch. ("Inaudible click" might be an oxymoron, but you knitters know what I mean.)

On a website about recycling I once read that any clever person could find a new use for the chopsticks they received at an oriental restaurant by converting them into knitting needles. Shaping the points was the hardest part, it was admitted, and the resulting needles might be a tad shorter, but after all, the motivation was recycling, not knitting.

The next question is, how does one recycle used bamboo knitting needles? Put them aside for the moment. Sooner or later someone, perhaps a child, will express an interest in learning to knit. Start them out with the the less-than-perfect bamboo needles, but point out that they will want to get a new pair of their own as soon as they get the hang of the craft.

OBSTINATE YARN

All you knitters know what uncooperative yarn is -- it's a curse and an abomination. If it's goat yarn, you could blame the source. Or camel yarn -- I had some of that yarn one time. But acrylic stuff? I've used other yarns of this brand before, and had no trouble, but this particular skein has been a trouble-maker from the start. Non-knitters never seem to understand knitting from the inside out, where you pull the yarn from the center of the skein. Some manufacturers make it easy to find that inside end of the skein, others like to turn it into a game of hide-and-seek. This elusive end didn't reveal itself until I had pulled out nearly half of the yarn from the center. Your immediate goal becomes knitting up all those loose strands until you reach that satisfying moment when you can neatly pull the yarn from the center. I had almost finished the hat before I reached that point.

I expected smooth going, uninterrupted ease. But no way. That stubborn skein still refused to let go of its yarn. Every little tug to get enough length to continue knitting met with fierce resistence. I'm three-quarters through the skein now -- how long will it continue to fight me back?

KNITTING AND THE INTERNET

It's amazing how much knitting I can finish while sitting in front of my computer screen. And I'm not just looking up new knitting patterns.

Just got my computer back from the repair shop, but drat, it's no faster than it was before. Still takes an incredible amount of time to switch to the next screen.

While I wait, I'm churning out hats in several sizes, some blue baby caps, and some red and blue (think KU) and mixed purple (think K-State) hats for both kids and adults. Not to mention the old tried and true ankle warmers, legwarmers, boot toppers.

We are facing changes in the way television, telephone, and internet services are provided for this household. If the speed is improved, it sure will eat into my knitting time.

ACTUALLY MAKING MONEY

I've actually sold some ankle warmers!

Made some money.

As a fund-raiser for the Kansas Authors Club District Two convention on October 1-3, 2010 in Lawrence.

Speaking of Lawrence, my ankle warmers are for sale TODAY (November 15) at an arts fair at a community center at Eleventh and Massachusetts. Also a fund-raiser for the convention next year.

Looking over the ankle warmers that are left in my basket, I have to conclude that orange is practically no one's favorite color. I thought they would be ideal for any hunter to wear as very visible boot toppers. (I had no idea that one skein of orange yarn would make so many sets of ankle warmers.) I've got to get busy and make some K-State purples, some KU blues and reds, and . . . what are the team colors at Pittsburg State? Do Gorillas wear ankle warmers?

In case you couldn't guess, Baker's color are black and ORANGE. Yeah, Baker.

RUN IF YOU SEE ME COMING

Be prepared to run if you see me coming. I've been knitting and writing all year, and I've got a new supply of ankle warmers, or boot toppers.

I know you don't want to hurt my feelings by telling me, "No, thanks, but I don't really need a pair of hand-knit ankle warmers" -- but if you refuse my offer, and later come down with a sniffling, wheezing, my-head-feels-like-a-rotten-squash cold, I will try to hide my i-told-you-so look for your refusal to take my advice about keeping your extremities warm at all times.