Saturday 29 September 2007

The Ron / Hermione Debate along the Road to Denial

I'm pathetic. I've gone all NoOby again because Ralvery asked me if they could use my picture of Riley for the Basic Dog Sweater page. Pathetic.

In sock news: Denial continues. I'm working on the second Keira Knitghtly sized sock and all was well until I realized that I hadn't moved the stitches before starting the heel flap. You're supposed to rearrange them so you have one purl at the beginning of the top of the sock and one purl at the end. I didn't do this and wound up confusing myself. Finally I figured out where I had gone wrong. I had to choose what to do next; free my inner Hermione and frog the entire heel and heel flap and redo everything correctly, or make something up and continue knitting sans le grenouille (Henceforth known as freeing your inner Ron). I thought, I fought with myself, then I realized that I was already so far down the Road to Denial that there was no point in trying to turn back now. Ron is free. I purled two together, knit the pattern, purled one, made one purl-wise and am now continuing to skip happily along the Road. I wonder what happens when you actually reach Denial. Is that the point where the people in the little yellow car with the nice crisp white jacket come and pick you up and take you to the little room with lovely soft walls where you sing 1970's hit songs to yourself for the rest of your life? Or does Life step in, ruin your nice delusions of everything being wonderful and make you start all over again?

Since I "wasted" two skeins of the sock yarn on the Denial socks, I had to go get more to make the Reality socks, i.e the ones that will fit Grandma. The Swiss have this really annoying way about them. This woman must remember that I was in the shop last Sat. and bought green sock yarn. I was the only customer and it was all I bought. Still, she has to point out that I'm going to need three, not two, of these skeins to make a pair of socks. I told her I know. She persists in telling me that because it's thicker, there's less yardage and therefore you need more than for normal sock yarn. Thank you, I know. Again she tells me it's not the same. Come on woman! You don't seriously think I'm going to stand here and tell you that I need this yarn because I screwed up the first pair of socks do you?!? I know what will happen if I do this. You won't let it go if I just tell you I messed up the first pair. You'll hound me until you have the whole, blow by blow humiliating story of my Failure to properly knit a pair of socks, all the while clicking your tongue and tut-tutting over not only my failure to properly knit a pair of socks, but my persistent refusal to see that they are too small, that I could never have knit a sock with one skein and why didn't I frog the whole thing and reclaim the yarn to start afresh. Indeed, why don't I go home now and unravel the sock I finished so that I will have a pair of socks I can actually wear without using forceps to pull them up? No, the Swiss just can't let things go at "I made a mistake", they have to know the whole story so they can feel utterly superior to you and then tell the story to their friends so they can feel superior to you as well, especially as the whole telling will culminate with the sentence: "Of course she's not Swiss you know." accompanied by many nods of the head and click-tuttings. She didn't seriously think I was going to give her the satisfaction, did she? The Swiss have learned to free their Inner Hermione in a big, rather unhealthy way, and they like to let you know that. Join them? No thank you, I'm quite happy skipping along the Road with Barry Manilow songs running through my head. Fly Ron! Be Free!

In other news, WE HAVE HEAT! Wooot! 60° in your apartment is just not warm enough. Thank you for noticing that dear landlord. Maybe she noticed that I put up my second windows (Vorfenster) today. I figured I should so that I didn't lose the heat that I might manage to generate with prodigious candle burning.

I also cleaned the car, went groc shopping, cleaned the balcony and the windows, hoovered and mopped the floors, cleaned out my tea cupboard, went to the post office, hung the laundry out side and cleaned the kitchen. I'm tired now. I think I'll go knit.

3 comments:

  1. Geez I forgot to tell you that they put the heating on here too! It actually happened on Saturday and am I happy that it did. It will take a few days to get going but just knowing that the boiler is in motion is enough for me.

    Sounds like your yarn lady and mine have a lot in common. Needless to say I really appreciate the yarn advice which came in handy when I went about choosing what I wanted.

    I've been in Denial since the beginning. My inner Hermione keeps popping out and shoving Ron into a closet - which is why I've frogged my last project more than I care to remember.

    I can't wait to see what your socks look like! It may not be much coming from me but I'm in awe that you can make sense out of the patterns!

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  2. Oh, how I love your stories. :D

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  3. Hi - completely random I know, but you seem to be a Pratchett fan who lives in Switzerland. And my theatre group (in Berne) are producing Wyrd Sisters this week and next. If you are interested, please get in touch...

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