True Crime Story Time
No one would have expected a crime spree on the morning of this busy day.
There were no clues of nefarious plots, no hints of evil plans, nary a whisper of malicious machinations.
And yet, before the afternoon was complete, my house was the scene of a crime. Or was it?
You be the judge.
First, the cold, hard evidence.
Allow me to present the suspects, Zoey and Maewyn, and the results of their criminal activity. What you see before your own eyes is an ear warmer that has been rescued from the floor. You may notice the fang marks on the needles. What you do not see is the horrible state in which I found said ear warmer, needles, and attached yarn, to wit: strewn across the living room carpet, unwound, and liberally sprinkled with dog hair.
I discovered this shocking scene upon returning to the house from running a few errands.
There is absolutely no question of guilt. They haven’t provided any alternate theory of the crime after being accused, so I’m pretty sure.
There is, however, a question of motive. The household jury is deliberating between two possibilities, both with merit.
A Matter of Motive
Both theories rely on the fact that I spent a good portion of the day having disagreements with my knitting.
If you’ve been reading along these last weeks, you know I’ve been working on these fun ear warmers. I picked one up and carried on that morning, not paying enough attention to which direction I was working when I stopped the night before.
See that wonky hole there, and how the ear warmer has an extra half row on that end? That would be because I didn’t continue and finish the row in the same direction I was going when I stopped, but rather reversed course and worked back the other direction.
If you’re brand new to knitting, this is how you do “short rows,” which are really useful when planned. I use them most often when turning heels for socks, but they’re great for adding 3-D shaping in other garments to help them fit better, and for adding interesting curving design elements in your fabric.
Friends, I was 4 inches from being done with binding off that ear warmer before I discovered what I’d done. After a few minutes (I think…I lost track of time there for a bit) of deep breathing, internal muttering, and not moving in anything that could be interpreted in any way as a throwing-across-the-room motion, I very (very!) calmly set the earwarmer down and moved to another project.
Overreacting? Maybe? But it’s kind of a busy knitting time, time feels short, and my to-do list is growing rather than shrinking. I’m going to give myself points for the not-throwing bit and for keeping the muttering internal.
More Motive
So, the new project. First thing to know? Black yarn. I predict there will be a day in the future when I stop knitting with black yarn because my eyes just can’t handle it anymore.
The second thing to know is that for some reason I thought I wanted a slightly different stitch pattern for this earwarmer than for the others. My first thought was a simple knit 2 x purl 2 rib. It’s very stretchy, so it’s forgiving on fit, and still very cozy and attractive. I cast on and got going.
About 2 inches in, I decided the gauge was way too loose and went down a needle size and started over. After about 2 inches on the second attempt, I decided I just didn’t like the look of it in the chunky yarn. It still looked a little loose and sloppy, and it just wasn’t the look I wanted.
On the third attempt, and a different stitch pattern*, I finally got what I wanted, but it’s fair to say there was some slightly less internal muttering throughout this episode. Of course, the dogs noticed everything.
I ran my errands after getting this last attempt started, before the dogs would have been certain that all would end well. So the two working theories for the possible motive for their criminal behavior are:
- The dogs perceived the yarn and needles to be malevolent forces that had been tormenting me all day, and they were simply protecting me from harm by bringing them to submission. OR
- They thought they were HELPING ME with my project.
What do you think?
Not all Heroes Wear Capes
My heroes in this story wielded, respectively, car keys and a cash register.
Greg got home from work, saw the needle carnage, learned that my local yarn shop was open for another 30 minutes, and got me in the car to zoom me to it.
Erin at Coast to Coast Yarn Company was my other hero, as she was open late enough that I could replace my destroyed needles. Here is one of the many, many reasons it is so good to have a quality local yarn shop in your community, and why it is so important to support it if you have one!
The needles I was using were a size that is almost never carried by a department or chain craft store. Had Erin’s shop not been here, I would have had to order replacements online. I’m glad we have that option available, but in this particular case, I needed to finish this project before expedited shipping could have gotten them to my door. Only a LYS could solve my problem in my time frame.
Do you know where your nearest brick and mortar yarn shop is? How long has it been since you stopped by?
On to the next ear warmer for me! Let’s hope it will be a while before the next episode of True Crime Story Time around these parts.
What are you working on today?
*Black Ear Warmer Pattern
In case you are interested in how I made the black ear warmer, here’s what I did: With Malabringo Rasta and size 17 needles, I cast on 61 stitches and set up to join in my usual fashion by putting the first and last loops together, to be worked as one as the last stitch of the first round. Then I simply did the first half of the herringbone stitch (knit 2 together through back loop, slip first stitch off, leave second stitch on left needle) in a never ending spiral until the earwarmer was as thick/tall as I wanted, about 10 rounds. Bind off in pattern (detailed instructions for doing that in herringbone in this post), weave in ends.
Happy knitting!
Kiersten J
