Dear Vickie Starbuck,
I’d like to apologize for all the things that I said about you last night. I was upset about frogging the Dublin Bay socks, and I may have misdirected my anger. I know that there is no way that you heard what I said about you, but trust me….I owe you an apology.
When I cast on your Entrelac socks (From the nifty Socks Socks Socks book) I may not have had the best attitude. I’m sorry that I called the start to your sock “dumbass”. It was really just that I thought that starting a sock with that little square and picking up stitches around it so that I get a round toe, was…well I guess I owe you for the “colossal waste of time” crack too. I deeply regret that I did not trust that you might have a reason for making a toe that way. Now that I’ve knit a little ways on the entrelac part I see where you were going with that particular technique. It turns out that you aren’t “out of your freaking mind” and I guess I deserve the trouble I’m going to get when I’ve got to work out how to position the heel. I guess you really did think it through. Sorry for doubting you.
After I so carelessly abandoned your toe structure for my own and got to the part where you knit the cute little triangles for the foundation of the entrelac, I’m afraid that I must confess that I was perhaps a little rash when I said that you were “a few jalapenos short of a zippy salsa.” It turns out that I misinterpreted an instruction that actually was very clear in my haste to condemn you. Mea culpa.
Mostly, I feel that I must apologize for the , er…”episode” that I had when I got to the instruction for the first rectangles. After an hour of trying to follow the directions to knit one stinking little inane rectangle I may have said some things that were unladylike.
(Joe reminds me that the comment about you and the “horse you rode in on” was particularly callused. Sorry about that) I eventually trashed your directions and did some other thing that worked out fine. I looked around for a correction to the instructions but didn’t find one. That likely means that it’s my fault again, and that the tension headache and throbbing vein in my forehead are only what I deserve and not actually the end result of any substance abuse problem that I may have implied you had.
Thank you, and again, my deepest apologies,
Stephanie
Yarn Harlot
Harlot: you are gonna love those socks. They look great so far.
Ken: high five buddy!
Ditto Audrey! Hey, I have some Lorna Yarn. Instead of having to learn entrelac, can I just send you the yarn and you can make ’em for me?
Yay Stephanie! Yay Ken and Aubergine! Yay me, I will follow in your sock-footsteps, after you prove to me it can be done!
I start all my socks with a teensy, tiny toe rectangle. I don’t do it with a fiddly 2 sided, 3 needle cast on – I just use a 4-8 stitch temporary cast on.
Having the toe depth in your sock makes all the difference in fit – especially for really weird sized feet like mine
a) love the socks. i think i have that book.
b) it is entirely your fault that
c) i am going to do lace and that
d) it’s a friggin shawl.
did i even like shawls??
i went to the yarn (read: cross stitch and needlepoint store with more floss than ever i’ve seen before in my entire life) store down here with my mom and there it was…the charlotte’s web shawl pattern. and the koigu. yes, i know without a ball winder that represents about an hour and a half of yarn winding and yes, i know i haven’t finished the pink sweater or the second koigu sock (though i’m about to the heel flap) and i have all these lovely sock books and a new book on norwegian knitting…but i just had to have it. you know how it is.
you know, i think i like this comment so much i’m going to post it on my blog as well. 🙂
*hugs*
ps – snowdrop and snowdrop baby are a perfect match.
Reading this helped ease my frustration with a current project (I’m a beginning knitter in fear of knitting-in-the-round lessons next week) and giving me a smile today…
Confusing instructions — fun, fun. Also galling are instructions that are clear, but the designer was less fussy about matching things up, so they look wrong even when the instructions are followed “correctly.”
I like the socks. 🙂
Michelle at DevBear (http://www.devbear.org) is knitting the same socks and I think they are driving her slowly insane. No worries, just thought I’d mention it… (::wandering slowly away, whistling in a most carefree manner::)
Ooh, nifty. I’ll have to try that. But I agree with Alison–I’ll wait until you prove it can be done.
Dear Yarn Harot, you ALWAYS make me laugh! I see you’re lovin that entrelac sock even more than you thought you would.
Remind me never to piss you off.
Mighty impressive Ms. Harlot! Also I like your blog button. I do have a question for you. Seeing as you spin what about handspun handknit entrelac socks? Or handspun handknit Dublin Bay beauties? Or better yet you do the dyeing, the blending …a bit o’ silk or kid mohair and then spin the yarn and knit those socks. I am thinking that such a pair of socks would be delightful to wear.
I hope you will consider such an idea and I can also offer to model them for you. Spinsters can be kind.
Regards to all!
I am not generally a fan of entrelac, but that yarn and that pattern seem to have been made for each other (that’s how it looks so far)
I am with Claudia, though, I NEVER want to piss you off! Mind you, it’s a lovely apology.
Get knitting on those socks, I am anxious to see how they look with more done, and the chances are slim to none that I will ever do entrelac anything myself (for some reason most entrelac makes me think of worms fighting and I have no desire to take part. I am sure the knitting Gods are against me taking a chance)
Barb Brown
I am very glad *you* are test driving the entrelac. Eager to see how the LL color pattern behaves. I’m going to swatch Broadripple in a few different LL’s tomorrow — short color bits and long color bits. For me so far, it’s the long color bits that do the front/back color splotch sock in stockinette.
When I grow up, I wanna do Entrelac too!
I bow down to your courage.
We’re not worthy!!!
We’re not worthy!!!
*said in my very bestest Wayne and Garth impression*
I am soo happy to see someone else working on these socks. Yours look awesome. I am close to done with the first sock of my pair and I followed Vickie’s pattern… well, as far as I could, when there weren’t errors or problems.
I will say I think Vickie’s pattern for the entrelac socks is particularly poorly written. I found the entrelac instructions to be clear — but her pattern directions are rather crappy. For example, I encountered some problems when I got to the heel, so watch out when you do it yourself. Also, I recommend against using her heel — it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be particularly comfortable. I think a short row heel would be more comfy.
If you’re interested in watching my progress you can see the project page here: http://www.devbear.org/project_entrelac_socks.html
I’ll definitely be keeping track of how you’re doing on yours!