27 August 2007

Black holes and stage lights.

Greetings, all! Forgive me for leaving you alone for so long. The play is done and my time is my own again.

After a fashion.

Everything went pretty well, actually. Lines were remembered, scenery stayed in place and there were no wardrobe malfunctions. I should have worn a pedometer, because I'm fairly sure that my backstage pacing added up to several thousand miles.

Speaking of several thousand, that has to be the number of rows I've added to the preemie sweater without visible progress. Yes, I've entered the dreaded black hole of knitting. Measure, knit a dozen rows, measure.

Still the same length.

Knit another dozen rows, measure. No change.

Snarl to self, knit TWO dozen rows, measure. What the hell?!

At this point, snarling is replaced by complex and imaginitive swearing while yanking various parts of the knitted item into some sort of reasonable facsimile of the required length. According to the tape measure, you still need to add about four more rows. This is done, quickly and with ill grace. You measure again and discover that the piece, to which you added four lousy rows, is now six inches too long.

You sigh, carefully fold up your knitting, set it aside and reach for the gin.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

At least with knitting, "too short" or "too long" are fixable. With sewing (what I do most often), "too long" can be fixed, but "too short" -- that's another story! XP

Tracy said...

I think I enter that black hole with most lace projects :-( I was catching up on your blog and reading the Winfield info. When I lived in Knoxville, I LOVED going to Fall Homecoming at the Museum of Appalachia. I played banjo, but never took it with me (too nervous around people), but had a friend who was always playing with one band or another. The absolute BEST was getting in with him and his wife for the jam sessions with all the old time bluegrass greats. Almost gives me goosebumps thinking of it. I wasn't a knitter then, but did do some demonstration quilting at the Christmas event at the Museum there :-)

Jen C said...

I always enter the blackhole when doing the feet on socks. i always get stuck at 4 1/2" and the longer you knit....

Though if i put it away, go do something else it seems to find a inch or two...

Anonymous said...

No gin for you! :)

What size needles are you knitting the sweater with? If you can't make it everything out of lamb's pride bulky with size 11 needles, what's the point?

-Lora