In which we discover that I am an idiot who can't read.
>> Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Well. It's not that I can't read. It's that I was reading the wrong way. Let me explain.
After weeks of listening to Lime & Violet's Podcast and becoming a friend of Wendy Knits on Plurk, the sock knitting bug bit me bad. I bought a pair of size one circulars and balled up my own handspun (CJKopec's "Inquiry" fiber, spun into a fingering weight 3 ply). I picked Wendy Knit's "Cabletini" toe-up sock pattern and set about figuring out Judy's magic cast on. I had limited success as I forgot several times which rows I was increasing and which ones I wasn't supposed to. The toe looks like this:
Obviously, no one in the world has toes that shaped, but I'm hoping that blocking will lessen the severity of the toe shape and that if it doesn't, wearing it will hide it's oddness.
As I started knitting the pattern, I noticed that the cables were off center. Looking at the above pic you can see that they are all on the left of the sock. At first I was concerned; it didn't look "right." But as I knit I told myself that it was so that the cables were on the outside of the sock and that the directions would be reversed for the other foot. That would mean that I am knitting the right foot right now. Happily I continued knitting.
But then I started thinking about the last cable on the outside. There are no purls on the far side of it; it melts straight into the stockinette of the foot. On the inside of the foot there are six purl stiches. That seemed like a lot. I paused and read the directions again.
"Row 1: on needle one, purl 3, work the six stiches of row 1 of thechart pattern 5 times. On needle two, knit all 33 stitches."
That's exactly what I did. I decided to see what the pattern said to do for the second sock. Ummm. Huh? There were no directions for the second sock. If the socks had a definite left and right, shouldn't there be directions for both?
And that's when it hit me.
I'd read the chart backwards. Without the little chart note that said "charts are read from right to left" I'd forgotten and done what I do whenever I read and knit the chart left to right. Damn, damn, and double damn. I've knit five inches and it's all WRONG. LOOK AT THE UGLY:
So what do I do? I know that I am the only knitter in my family so the only one who will know that I did this pattern wrong. I am adept enough that I can mirror the cables on the other sock and make them look deliberate. But do I want to knit TWO incorrect socks? Do I want to frog the entire sock and start over? I've been working on this sock for about five hours so far, and I'm not even to the gusset yet. Somebody help - what should I do?
