Option One or Two?

Ok, friend, this is just between you and me. No one else has to know your answer to this question. Ready?

Does the “Which is better: 1…or 2?” question at the eye doctor ever make you nervous?

I really hope I’m not the only one who says yes.

It’s such a simple question and you’d think the answer would always be simple, too. It usually starts that way for me. Option one is pretty clear, option two looks like one of the dogs just licked my glasses to remind me it’s 0.3 milliseconds past dinner time.

But after a few more choices, I can’t tell the difference anymore, my eyes are acting like I applied essence of ragweed to them, and I’m as nervous as I was when I was about to blow it at the county spelling bee.

And we hadn’t even started with the astigmatism portion of the program. Those option one vs. option two versions would be good for some kind of media campaign designed to scare people away from using drugs, eating carbs, or playing the sun stare game.

There are other times, however, when I adore having options. This has been especially true this week with the knitting.

A couple of weeks ago I started a lovely, cabled cardigan by Thea Colman, using her pattern Dark and Stormy. I’m using some yarn that’s been in my stash for several years (Shelter from Brooklyn Tweed) in a deep purple color. It’s got cables, the yarn is dark, and I’ve got to pay close attention as I’m making increases for the yoke because the increases have to incorporate the cabling. In other words, this is not a brainless pattern I can work on in low light or while I’m paying more attention to something else or when I’m extremely distracted.

I’ve been extremely distracted this week, so I needed an option two. I looked for something that would be interesting and maybe teach me something new, but could still help me find that calm, meditative state we keep learning is so beneficial for mental and physical health.

I decided on Wool and Pine‘s Seaglass Cardigan. This pattern has a new technique to learn (dealing with a whole bunch of ends in a new way) and will give me a fantastic way to use the Malabrigo Rios I’ve somehow collected over the last several years.

It will be very slow going as the whole thing is worked in 1×1 colorwork, but it will be fascinating to watch it grow. I’m forcing myself to NOT plan out the rows. Instead, I grabbed plenty of yarn to construct the whole cardigan, planned a deep blue for the collar, cuffs, and hem, and chose harmonious colors for the body and sleeves. I’m going to try and be random. I’m going to try really hard.

So now I have option one for when I want to engage my brain and I have good light, and option two for when I need to turn it all down a bit. I love that knitting can give me both.

And speaking of options and flexibility, I have to share the coolest tweak my most excellent optometrist made for me on my new prescription for glasses. He asked where I held my knitting, and it turns out it’s a bit closer than the distance typically used to correct for reading. So instead of my near vision being corrected for reading, mine’s being specifically corrected for knitting.

I find that option to be completely delightful!

Greg’s Got Questions:

Thank you to those of you who participated in the poll last week!

LAST WEEK’S QUESTION:

Outside of fiber arts, what is one of your “things” you’d like your readers to know about?

I really love to read fiction. Besides the incomparable Jane Austen and some other British classic authors, I love historical fiction, mysteries, and big fat series. If I hear a recommendation that combines two of the three, I’m interested. All three in one? Oh, boy.

I’m currently on my second tour of Three Pines with Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series on audiobooks. It’s good knitting/spinning listening and I simply adore the characters.

I just started reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson on a recommendation and recently enjoyed Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate.

Greg’s Questions for This Week:

Here are the questions up for the vote this week. I’ll answer the winner in the next newsletter. (As a matter of procedure, the poll function takes you to another page to submit your vote, so if that happens to you, you’re on the right track!)

Question 1: So many terminology questions! I think I generally know these terms, but what exactly is
“cabling”, “yoke”, “cardigan”, “1×1 colorwork”?

Question 2: How much brain power does it take for you to try really hard to be random?

Question 3: What’s your position on historical fiction? Is this a good way to learn history or an opportunity to be misinformed or misled? What mindset do you take when reading this genre to avoid potential pitfalls??

Happy knitting,

Kiersten J