Charts are our friends

I need a good rant!

I'm in need of a good rant. I started writing about my socks while I was having lunch but the afternoon went down hill and by the time I left work I felt I was desperately in need of knitting time, a good TV show and major doses of chocolate. I'll tell you about the socks later but first - I rant!

I'm convinced Taurus' are out to get me. On the way to work I was driving along in the middle of 3 lanes and a guy in the left lane decided to come into my lane right where I was currently driving. I like my SVU (my bright royal blue SUV that ANYONE can see from miles away) and have no desire for a new one so I tooted my horn. Taurus guy pulled back into his lane and proceeded to give me the finger and gesture madly for about 4 minutes. PLA-LEASE! All I did was let him know I was in the lane so we didn't have an accident. I found his genturing rather assuming but he obviously was having such a day (or life) that he can't handle a small thing like not being able to go into a lane when he wants to.

We'll bypass the afternoon events at work because THAT rant would take till midnight. On my home I stopped at the store to get major doses of chocolate (part of my coping devise). Leaving the parking lot, a lady almost ran into me because she was so busy lighting a ciggy-butt that she didn't notice me and my royal blue SUV. The lady was driving - you guessed it - a Taurus. They are out to get me!

So here I am at home with chocolate (makes that mass quantities of chocolate), a SUV with out dents in it (still bright blue that anyone who doesn't drive a Taurus can see), my sock-of-the-month sock to knit, some fresh brewed ice tea, and a DVD of Rosemary & Thyme.

This should get the day's bad mojo out of me. Let's talk socks.

More Sock Info

Sorry about not putting full sock information with the picture yesterday... The yarn is supersocke 100. I tried to "Ask" for more information about the yarn because I don't now this one but had a hard time getting a manufacturer web site. It's a nice yarn but I've had more splitting with it than other sock yarns I've knit with. There could be 2 reasons for this. I've been knitting with my older size 2 needles and I've been knitting while more tired then usual. I'm down to the gusset now and switched over to size 1 needle. I have thicker legs and the pattern was for a ladies medium. Without doing a lot of calculations I figured knitting the leg on bigger needles would be the easiest fix. So far it looks okay. We'll see how the foot turns out.

The pattern (sorry I didn't state which one, guinifer!) is Country Girls Socks from Hearts Strings Fiber Arts. It looks like leaves pointing downward. The leaf movement and lace is enough so it shows up well even with all the yarn color changes.

Knitting Styles

It's interesting to knit the same project with a group of people. People tend to get competitive (well, I tend to get competitive). We were about 10 people sitting around a couple tables knitting Monday night. Chatting about work, family, trips, etc. Lots of conversation about the socks. Some people tried 2 circs for the first time and needed help. Some were knitting magic loop. I was in the 4 double point group. It's the way I was taught and I can knit pretty darn fast with them. Anyway - I got the most knit Monday knit. Told you I was competitive! But back to the point of community knitting.....

Some ladies were talking about the charts. The pattern has many charts for the different sections. Some had never used charts- didn't know how to read them ("start row 1 at the right side just like you're knitting" - "Oh, I can do that.") "What's the little pictures mean?" , etc. Now- to me - charts are heaven. You can glance at where you're at, don't have to get lost in a string of K1,yo, k2tog,k16,ssk,yo,k4,yo. Somewhere halfway through a string like that I lose where I'm at and have to re-read a ton of times. With a chart- no problem. Get something to mark the row you're on and knit like the wind! This also helps when I'm trying to knit and have both cats trying to get my attention by climbing all over me and the pattern. Charts remind me of the old TV commercial about some sort of car - "The lines are our friends. Stay between the lines." I say The charts are our friends......

Now - onward to chocolate, knitting and TV.......

Bert says he and Chief will help me forget the day too!