Panic

I put the finishing touches on Donna's scarf last night, and then I put some more finishing touches on. I had some struggles adding the fringe, but I had it where I was happy enough. And then I got the scissors.

For Kristin's scarf and the first striped scarf (FO #11), my method for cutting the fringe to a common length was to pull all of the yarn together and make one big cut. That worked fine in those instances but not this time. Some was trimmed exceptionally short. I tried to even them up again, which only made matters worse. I probably used half of a ball cutting the yarn for the fringe, so I didn't have much spare yarn left. I had enough to replace the shortest pieces, gave it all another clip, and grimaced at the result.

It ruins what is otherwise a beautiful scarf that is wonderful to the touch. I told Donna that I'll include the label with the dye lot number if she has her heart set on a fringe. So the fringe is being removed tonight before it and its companion are placed in a box and sent south.

I was almost talked into posting photos now, but I've reverted to my original stance and will wait until Donna and Noel receive them. The only pictures I've taken have the fringe, and I'm not publishing those. The lighting in my apartment is atrocious, especially at night, so there's no use taking any now. With any luck and typical postal service performance, I should be able to show you on Monday.

Donna, don't laugh if the package has insurance on it. There were fears that the striped scarf I sent to Seattle was lost in the mail. To my relief it surfaced a day later.

Speaking of unwarranted scares... Today I picked up my reserved copy of Stitch 'n Bitch Nation at the library. Amusing anecdote #1 (but not scary): I was driving the station's van, which is adorned with far too many logos, when I reached the pick-up window. I gave the clerk my card. When he returned with the book he started asking me about the TV station and mentioned that he saw a movie review show on there a lot. I said, "Yeah, that guy's a real jerk" and laughed. I just assumed he recognized me--it happens regularly--but since I was wearing my hat, it occurred to me after the fact that perhaps he didn't. You can't put a price on being your own unwitting smear machine.

Amusing anecdote #2 (the unwarranted scary one): I was flipping through the book and stopped in the section that shows how to cast on, knit, purl, and the like. Since I knew how to do that stuff, I was curious if the written instructions would make more sense to me than before. I was reading the directions for the knit stitch and froze. It said to wrap the yarn counterclockwise.

Hold on a second. I don't wrap counterclockwise, do I? I envisioned what I do. Oh. No. Have I been knitting backwards all this time?

Slightly panicked, I asked Kristin for confirmation that I wasn't wrapping incorrectly. After tonight's screening of The Astronaut Farmer she showed me that I had nothing to fear. I've been doing it properly. I still don't quite see it, but I trust her. How in the world does anyone learn to knit from books? This is further evidence that print instructions are hopelessly confusing, at least to me.

You'll be glad to know that the toque and I have bonded in spite of its character-building seam scar. I've worn it every day to fight off this week's brutal cold, and I've even kept it on some at home. I was outside briefly without it on and soon found out how warm it has kept me. Thus this saga reaches its happy ending.