Inquisitive Felines and Fibers

The holiday has completely confused me as to what day of the week we are experiencing as usual. I really am a bit of a lost soul during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Since I work at a school I have this week off, which is lovely, so I tend to lose track of the days….also lovely. A very big perk to this week is that I’m done with Christmas orders, my shows are long way ahead, and I can start to clean up random WIPs, plan my strategy for new stock items, and try out new patterns. So far it’s been an eventful vacation. My first I finished up a few small things and then tackled my big one. The Celtic Myth shawl border. I didn’t think twice as I grabbed the bag and brought it to the wingback, a big smile of anticipation on my face. I love the yarn, the shawl is soft, and cables have never been an issue in the past.

I finished the shawl body months ago, but between work and shows I wanted to enjoy working on the cables so I put it aside for this break. This is the designer, Asita Krebs’, picture. Mine is made using Kraemer Fountain Hill yarn. Anyway, I pulled the shawl, yarn, and directions out of the bag and set them on the ottoman. Then I  got a cable stitch holder, a pen, and a cup of Prince of Wales tea. I was all set….until I saw the chart. I sighed, took a deep breath, and struggled through the set up rows and then the first 5 charts rows only to have the lumpiest mess I’ve ever seen on my hands. While in the process of frogging it I caught a glimpse of a memory of a lovely friend, Laura, using index cards to follow her patterns. Of course, I couldn’t find a single index card in the house, but I did have a pad so I wrote out the chart directions. I’ve managed a full pattern set and not a mistake in site. One down, 32 repeats to go!

I would like to make it perfectly clear that this is not an issue of the designer, it’s my problem plain and simple. I don’t get knitting charts and I never have done. I do wish I’d thought to write them out before, though, as there are many lovely things I haven’t made because I muddle up knitting charts in my head. Ironically, I prefer crocheting charts to written directions and I can sail right through them. In fact, I have replicated a block from a table cloth by looking at the cloth itself. Knitting chart….totally confusing to me.

This is not the full repeat, but merely a photo to show that I did manage it and to display the delightfully soft yarn that I’ve chosen. I’ve had this yarn for a few years now and finally it told me at the beginning of the summer what it wanted to be. Let’s hope I don’t let it down. So, do you do well with knitting charts or not?