Busy, busy, busy.

Determined that SMS could be overcome by public encouragement, sheer will and coffee (Hey, here’s something worth mentioning. Somebody got here yesterday on a google search for “yarn and coffee”. Aside from the really, really interesting sort of scenarios that you could think up for why someone would be searching for those two things together, I’d like to say a couple of things. First, to the person who did the search, Hi! I think we were separated at birth. Secondly, should I be thrilled or disturbed that if someone does a google search for “yarn and coffee”, I am the #1 hit?)
I buckled down and applied myself to the Latvian Mitten. I made pretty good time too.
gt
I even remembered to take a picture of how I did the thumb as I went by. (Rams asked. I’m never going to disappoint Rams.)
thumb
I knit around to the place where I wanted the thumb, then cast on the stitches that will be the top of the thumb hole, then put the stitches that would be beneath them on a thread to save for later. Then I just keep knitting the mitten (with the thumb hole sitting there taunting me), until I’m ready to knit the thumb. I come back, pick up the stitches on the thread, pick up the stitches from the cast on edge, and I’m off like a prom dress.
I knit along after the thumb-hole feeling pretty darn good about me and my ability to resist temptation. I’ve got all these incredible alternatives and yet, do I run off and leave the second Latvian mitten like a common…well, Harlot?
No. I do not. I dedicate all of my knitting time for last evening to having a second mitten. I stick to it, darn it…and I’m feeling pretty good about it.
When I can no longer keep my eyes open, I spread the mitten on the chesterfield and show it to Joe. “Pretty nice eh?” I say, with the smug and satisfied smile of a knitter. “Yes, Ma’am” Joe replies. “Pretty nice indeed”.
We sit for a moment admiring the mittens. We feel the love.
arrghh
Then Joe says….”How come you didn’t make them the same?”
nobraid
I can’t talk. I have a lot to do. I have to do laundry, rip back the mitten, do some of my real job, dust, vacuum and put all of my dpns in a pile on the living room floor and throw myself into them and roll around until I (hopefully) get a fatal puncture. Busy, busy, busy.

71 thoughts on “Busy, busy, busy.

  1. What a question! He needs better training! *Why* didn’t you make them the same? My sweetie would know to say, “Oh, dear, I have some really bad news for you, I’m so sorry,” and then he would hug me and be generally supportive.
    I’m so sorry. How frustrating! Those are going to be some kickass mittens, though.

  2. I am definitely with Melissa. But you know, there should always be a second option, and doesn’t Joe deserve to be punished by being the bearer of bad news? Like say, with him doing the housework while you correct the oversight?

  3. Joe is indeed brave. as are you to keep fighting these mitten – beat them into submission! Make them behave! If anyone can, you can! we are cheering for you!
    yarn and coffee indeed. my favorite yarn store is also a coffee shop. I tell me friends I want to go to mecca today, they know.

  4. You know you’re a fiber knitting freak when you read this story, see the picture and gasp out loud in such decibels, one of your co-workers comes over to see if you’re all right.
    Oh Harlot.
    Could be worse. I don’t want you to put a hit out on me, so I’ll leave it at that… and I’m with the others, screw the housework.

  5. But, but, but! You put the thumb on the correct side!!! Does this count for nothing? As the post began I found dread building and realized I hadn’t warned you about Possible Complications in Overcoming SMS, of which Two Left Thumbs it the greatest. And you overcame! You put it on the right side! A mere braid is as nothing compared to getting the thumbs right.
    (Now don’t screw it up. Get it right the second time, too — since I know that right now you’re ripping out. Mitten, hair. Mitten, hair.)

  6. Um, shouldn’t they be mirror images, not identical? Those braids should go in opposite directions on opposite mittens. And it looks like the patterns on the cuffs may be not quite centered on the back of the mittens, so maybe they should be mirrored, too.
    Heh, heh. Enjoy! (Congrats on getting the thumb right, though)

  7. But…but…but…. if you get a fatal puncture, not only will you bleed profusely over the wonderful first mitten, but I strongly suspect a fatal puncture would have a negative impact on your ability to write your blog!!
    Also, to get a fatal puncture from a dpn, I’m thinking you’re going to need a few very long dpns – for example, a 5″ glove dpn is going to miss most vital organs.

  8. Wow. As soon as I started reading I knew something bad was about to happen. Glad you did NOT receive a fatal puncture. I bought yarn and roving to do the thrummed mitten knit-along with you and I’d hate to miss that. Don’t know what to say about Joe, other than he should’ve taken the needles away before he told you about the difference in mittens. I say he has to do all the housework for the rest of the week. And the mitten is still awesome.

  9. Excuse me, but 1) why do the mittens need to be identical? Are your hands identical? I think not. 2) If you leave them as they are, you can tell them apart. You will know which one of them is missing, when invariably one goes astray. And 3) Hey, it’s a design element. 4) It demonstrates the infinite possibilities of braids. 5) Variety is the spice of life. 6) You can make a THIRD mitten, and then you can mix and match. What fun!

  10. Oh my dear Harlot-looking at that beautiful mitten-well it was like a needle in the chest. First-make yourself a big ol’ pot of coffee. Second, perhaps you have more restraint then you know-how many curse words were there really Steph? Now if it were me (and I am not trying to be smug in my realization it is not) the air would have been a gorgeous shade of morning glory blue; or at the very least I would have put on the completed mitten, smiled and said to my dear hubby, “but at least this one is breathtaking” while flashing a certain gesture with my mittened hand. Ah…the beauty of the mitten.
    I know, I know-don’t “kill the messenger” (swear at perhaps), but I am with everyone else-screw the house work. And those mittens-that’s right mittens with an “S”-still rock. I have no mittens of my own so I am forced to live vicariously through yours…I am keeping the faith…

  11. Uh oh… ::laughing hysterically:: this would SO be the kind of thing that would happen to me.. but hey.. how many times are you really going to hold your hands out side by side??
    snicker, snicker (in a kind way of course!)
    Mia

  12. First words out of my mouth: Awww f**k.
    A quiet curse filled with empathy for that deep sadness that comes with seeing your knitting time pass before your eyes, fly behind you and go straight down the toilet. That empathy for the desire to beat yourself about the head and shoulders (or perform hara-kari with DPs) while wailing “HOW could I have not seen??? HOW???”
    Yeah, I know it should be a zen thing, but I’m still struggling with that myself.
    I’m encouraged by Anne’s 6 options, but will understand if you rip. You probably already have…

  13. Perhaps you should take the attitude that a mistake brings good luck… kinda like they say in quilting. I think it was the Amish who believed that.

  14. Oh no ! The h*** with the housework ! Rip and knit girl ! The family will surely understand – your fans want you to be content and happy . They know how to order take out food right ? Take care and breathe slowly – knit fast !
    Happy knitting ,
    Kim O

  15. I noticed in the first picture that there seemed to be one fewer braid… I was hoping against hope there would be a happy reason for that. Sorry! If it makes you feel any better, I ripped out and restarted my red sock four times while at the Red Sox game last night.

  16. Well I’m just amazed that Joe could see that there was a difference! You must have unwittingly trained him to be quality control. He was just doing his job, poor guy. Does he put a little sticker on your fo’s when they are done? I just think they are so beautiful, boo-boo and all!

  17. We must have been separated at birth (our poor mother) I do shit like that all the time. (That’s why our names are spelled differently).
    Hope ripping back doesn’t bring on a recurrence of dread disease. I order you to take it easy on the housework so your immune system doesn’t suffer.
    Wait, I’m not that kind of a Doctor.

  18. okay, here’s an idea:
    take the photo into photoshop. alter it to make it appear as though they are they same. post it on your site and we’ll never know the difference! ahh, but YOU will. damn wiley mittens!
    you would have gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids.

  19. Oh Harlot I feel your pain. All you can do (short of throwing yourself on your needles) is get a stiff drink and rip away. Other than that small mishap the mittens look absolutely beautiful. Kudos.

  20. Okay, but really you did it on purpose–right? Because you know that all of us (e.g. your obsessed readers) do stupid stuff like that all the time…and you wanted to make us feel like we are not alone. You wanted to let us know that although we set you on the pedestal of Ultimate Yarn Harlot-i-ness, you too can make an honest mistake. You wanted to us to feel that we, too, can attain such greatness.
    Because, if you didn’t do that on purpose, then you would just be a normal, lowly knitter…like the rest of us…gasp.
    Oh dear, now I think I need some coffee. 😉

  21. Still working on getting my heart rate down after seeing that picture. I’ve done the same thing recently and it is SOOO frustrating but I wasn’t 2 color knitting! The lesson I learned – Not to get in a hurry. The bane of my existance 😉

  22. Oh, darling Harlot. Since I’m on a gratitude kick I’m just glad that Joe pointed out the “discrepancy” (gently, I’m sure) before you had completed the whole mitten. Imagine the pain and suffering that would have caused. Please, please, please don’t fatally puncture your precious self! You’re a beacon in the knitting blogging community and I personally am not prepared to do without you just yet.

  23. I think life is too short for yet another mitten ripping. All things happen for a purpose and perhaps, in the great karma of mittens, they were each meant to be unique. Relax, have yet another coffee and realize that whomever you give these beauties too will probably lose one on the Subway anyhow.

  24. Just being helpful. Don’t stab me. But I just wanted to make sure you saw that, in addition to the missing braid, the centers of those diamonds on the cuffs are white instead of brown like the first one. Of course, I don’t think that’s a mistake worth ripping for. But you should go into this with all the information.

  25. *GASP* Oh, no!
    The only consolation I can offer is that at least you hadn’t cast off and cut the yarn short. Or discovered this two or three weeks later. You can still recover… minus a few psychological bruises, of course.
    Am I the only one suspecting that your subconcious hatred of the braids was the source of your undoing?
    I don’t think coffee is sufficient here. Try chocolate and brandy instead.

  26. Gawd that’s funny. I feel so much better now. I thought you never made the same kind of mistakes as the rest of us. You are going to be really good at this Latvian mitten thing before it’s over. That Joe, he doesn’t miss a thing, huh? Thank you for sharing your human side AND actually posting evidence. Wish we could wear such lovely things here in Texas. .

  27. Seems to me most people have one foot bigger than the other, couldn’t you just say you did it because one hand is bigger than the other? Think of it as a design feature, not a bug.

  28. Okay, there is hope for me yet! Obviously if *you* can still make mistakes like that then there’s hope I can be a decent knitter someday. 🙂 The mittens are STUNNING and I hope somewhere in my future are some mittens like that. Now off to rip out my own latest mistake. 😉

  29. Well my dearie, I was actually snorting (with laughter) when I read that one. I had noticed the unsameness just as I was about to scroll down. I though, oh no..I don’t believe it….The snorting may have happened because I had to read yesterday’s today as well. Can there be too much knitting related comedy in one day?
    And I might add – I’m doing a wee bit of charity knitting (mitts/hats) and seem to have come into a variant of SMS. I have two little lime green mittens without thumbs. They’ve been sitting there for days, little pieces of blue yarn holding the thumb stitches. The hat is almost done. I’m onto the 5th square for a lap throw for the dialysis unit. I’ve finished socks. I’m about to start more. I’m swatching for an aran. I’m designing more mittens in my head to use up that lime green in stripes or something. Those poor thumbless mittens just sit there. Is there hope for them?
    Karin

  30. and here i was fixing to ask you what sort of dpns you were using…until i saw the oops.
    so oops.
    ouch.
    (i really like those purple metallic dpns, too…)

  31. “off like a prom dress” ???? Where did you come up with that analogy? I loved it.
    And I agree – forget coffee – it’s time for wine and chocolate.

  32. Well now, hey, wait a minute: can you fudge it? Can you knit, separately, a braid, and quietly sew it from underneath with sewing thread, appliqueing it on top of the mitten? Why not?

  33. Oh sh*t. I’m so sorry about your mitten. I can’t imagine enough studies have been done on SMS to talk about the relapse rate when a braid is missing on a Latvian mitten. My guess is it’s pretty high.

  34. And you could pick up the sides of the stitches from the lower braid so as not to have a cast-on row to deal with, and you could scrunch the added-on braid down a bit to avoid looking like you’re covering over the pattern above.

  35. The solution is obvious. Make another of each. Buy a lot more coffee to get you through it. Whatever SMS you may have had, this is the ultimate therapy. Why should such beautiful work be wasted?

  36. You’ll hate me forever when I tell you I noticed what was wrong on the first picture… I wondered why it only had one braid. I’m a horrible person, aren’t I? At least you know I read every day, even if I don’t leave notes. I don’t suppose you care now, however, and I don’t blame you one bit.

  37. Steph, you meant to do that. If the gloves were exactly the same, how would you know the right from the left? I know that I would be so captivated by the design on the back & the pointy tip, that I’d forget to turn them over to see where the thumbs were.
    See, you can explain anything away.

  38. I say screw the coffee and go straight for the tequila. Enough shots and you won’t care about the ripping. In fact, enough shots and you’ll start to appreciate the quirkiness of said mitten. Think how nice Joe would like with the mitten — still on its needles, which have been plunged into his chest.

  39. Design feature.
    Makes it easy to tell the left from the right when you are freezing your hands off and need a quick mitten fix.

  40. Oh, oh, oh. My stomach went down to my feet when I saw the picture. And after this tragedy you still had a sense of humor intact enough to imagine rolling around in the dps? ohmigod.

  41. Oooooooooooooooooouch! Very, very sorry, dear! Please refrain from touching dpns until all murderous/suicidal impulses have passed! Inhale, exhale. Repeat as necessary. Then begin ripping. Do it quickly, like taking off a bandaid, and you’ll be all better before you know it!
    You still inspire with your willingness to share both perfections and imperfections!

  42. I’m afraid I’m another one who noticed the missing second braid in the first photo.
    What’s worse, I noticed yesterday in your SMS report that there was only one braid. That didn’t trouble me, but I think someone in the comments said something like “keep going, you’ve done all the braids now”. And I thought “oh no, what if she forgets to knit the second braid????”
    Clearly, disaster prediction is my true calling. On the other hand, you can now blame the problem on us. I take full responsibility for not posting my fretful worrying yesterday.

  43. My sympathy to you (and Joe) I am currently suffering from a severe case of SSS (second sock syndrome) Due in no small part to my 17 year old’s size 13 feet. Both of the mittens are beautiful.

  44. Gosh, Harlot, maybe you could think of it like the intentional mistake in Oriental rugs…so that the gods don’t think you are tempting them to smite you.
    And, trust me, if you get that puncture, someone will find you in time to make it all worse than it used to be…like the puncture made them amputate one of your arms, and then you were still alive and had to look at the damn mitten for the rest of….never mind. Can you tell I work in an OR?

  45. omg!!! you poor thing!!!
    i do have to say they are beautiful mittens..one day when i figure out the dpn’s i will attempt somethign more detailed then my current beginner efforts… am almost embrassed to psot my beginning attempts…only almost tho… i am pleased with waht i ahve learned so far.
    keep at it they will be beautiful when youa re finished!

  46. Add another to the category of people reading this at work who on viewing the mittens side-by-side, gasped so loudly that co-workers were concerned

  47. � nei, � nei, � nei. (That was the first thing I said – pronounced “Oh nigh” and meaning, roughly, Oh dear! Oh, you poor dear!)
    You really _do_ dislike making those braids, don’t you?

  48. Oh MAN! Seeing that last picture actually made me gasp and clap my hand over my mouth! (I’m usually a pretty restrained blog reader. I’ll giggle and smile, but a gasp and hand clap? Very big for me. Funny, since I’m quite animated in person…)
    I hope you can manage to conquer the mitt. I know you can! Maybe crack open a nice Shiraz to numb the pain? And forget the vacuuming. 🙂

  49. Well. On the positive side ~ at least Joe really looked at them, and had the ability to notice the difference! My husband would definitely not have noticed, and left me knitting on them til I noticed myself … whenever that might have been! So, he saved you some a wee bit of agony, heh?
    And, I have to admit, I’m glad I’m here at home by myself in the mornings. Family would have wondered why I let out such a loud Guffaw at the computer when I read the last sentence of your post. And they already think I’m nuts … no need to add fuel to THAT fire! 😀
    Jen

  50. Oh, Harlot. They’re both so beautiful that I didn’t notice. I totally would’ve been frustrated by that too, but damn, I don’t know if I could rip back. You’re a stronger woman than me…..good luck! Still drooling at the mittens over here.

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