Simple Instructions

Follow simple instructions.  Long pause, here, for reflection.  I guess that would also involve reading them as well.  And here I find myself saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

I have a contraption that knits.  It's not technically a knitting machine.  It's called a knitting frame.  You can knit an inch or more in one minute.   It has been years since the frame was out of the box and actually used for anything.  That's where the "little knowledge" comes in because I just knew that as I set it up, it would all come back to me about how to use it.  And it didn't all come back to me.  One piece was missing.

Perfect first row

If you've read past blogs, you know that I finished a sweater a couple of months ago that was three-years in the making!  My dear Auntie, who is a frail 92 years old, was so thrilled by the pictures that she put in a request for a sweater for herself.  So after doing the arithmetic in my head,  I told her, no, you can't wait that long.  After some thought on the subject, I recalled the knitting apparatus .  It seemed that the time line for a sweater of the sort she wanted could be reduced from three years to maybe three days.  In that case I would be happy to create a sweater for her.

Second row obviously NOT knitted at all.  Repeat ten times.

Last night I set about getting started on this project.  The first row knit exactly the way I remembered it.  The second row would not knit at all.  Period.  After no less than ten attempts at a second or third row, I was reaching the definition of insanity (doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results).  Bed seemed then next best step.




Today through brighter eyes and mind, cleaning up the litter from the adventure into relearning the use of this knitting device, I picked up a wire-type piece for the "carriage".  Quickly turning to the instruction booklet on "getting started", I found where the piece belonged.  The missing piece.  The solution.

Carriage with metal wire "fabric guide" properly installed.  This guide
forces the previously knit row to be held so that the needles can move
back and forth through the previous loop and knit the next stitch.
No fabric guide--no knitting.

Things I get to do today: read simple instructions all the way through,  follow simple instructions, knit a test swatch for Auntie's sweater, follow simple instructions, follow simple instructions.