I've worked through the stages of grief with this shrug - this is how it went:
Step 1 - Denial. I thought it would simply take a number of rows before I could discern the vinnland pattern.
Step 2 - Anger. Why didn't I get any help? I looked in knitting instruction books for help and found nothing to tell me how to use the diagram properly. I can't do this by myself, as with so many others, hubris was my downfall.
Step 3 - Envy. I want it to look like kvp's shrug.
Step 4 - Depression. I made a mistake and it doesn't look right. I appreciate kitmf's comment that it was a design decision, but it wasn't. It was a mistake. I'm a failure and a very bad knitter. Lord only knows what I'm doing to my kids if I can't even knit a shrug properly.
Step 5 - Acceptance. This is MY shrug and it looks fine. I need to stop comparing myself to others and my hair is going to cover up half the back anyway.
And since I'm not a Buddhist, I can't stop at acceptance. No, I ascribe to the doctrine of the Christian Church, so there must be something more....
Step 6 - Redemption. This started out as a mistake, but I will own it. I will redeem the mistake and make it a design. Thus, I have decided to flip the chart. I've knit half of it going up, I'll knit the other half going down. There will be salvation in symmetry! I only wish it was a bit closer to Easter.
Why write this now, why not just do it and post the finished picture? Because if I flame out big time I want this to document the glimmer of hope, the spark of life I once had. Some will believe, others will demand proof (after all, I'm married to a man named Thomas).
P.S. Hi Tammi! I miss you!
3 comments:
OMG - it's GORGEOUS! Finish it up, girl - it's almost springtime!
:-) Tammi
Absolutely beautiful!! Keep going. And be sure to write down the "mistake" I may need to make one for myself.
Thank you! It feels so Sisyphean, I finally got enthused enough to work on it after being upset and I promptly messed up the pattern and had to rip back again. I think I'm on the way to progress though.
I will be sure to document my pattern, I love documenting! For starters, you follow the pattern for ribbing and decreasing, then start the vinnland sock pattern from Anticraft. Only, make sure you read the chart wrong! I read from left to right [it shouldn't matter, since it's a vertically symmetrical pattern, except for the decreases]. Anyway, read the chart left to right and do that in the center of your knit row; purl the next row [don't use the chart at all], then use the chart on your next knit row, again, reading the chart left to right].
More later...
Post a Comment