Short Row Heel

Is there anyone out there who can knit a short-row heel in one go? I'm sure all those serious, real, knitters do it without thinking. I am not capable of this. All that counting – how can you keep track? The stitches, the rows, the yarn overs… the high numbers. It's not like a little pattern repeat where you have to count to six, or even 12 or 14. This is, like counting to 27. 

Except in my case. I got to the end of the decreases last night (on the second RPM, if you're wondering). I read the pattern. It said that when I ran out of stitches on the decreases I'd be up to 27. Wanna know how many I had? 18. Not even close to 27. How the hell did I lose 9 whole stitches. It makes no sense. 

So anyway, of course I'm going to have to rip and reknit. At least once more. Probably more, because that's just the kind of knitter I am, and because while the short-row heel mocks me, I love the finished product. So cute! So perfectly shaped! So clever!

Sea Change

I seem to have become a different kind of knitter. I have always loved the tiny needles, the skinny yarn, the eensy weensy stitches. Now, having worked on the bulky Christmas hats for the past 6 or 7 weeks, I have no more patience for the slow tedium of those little fussy kinds of projects. I'm all about the chunky yarn, the double digit needle sizes. Laziness? I suppose so. The instant gratification (or more-instant, anyway, since nothing about knitting is exactly instant) is so much fun! Finish a project in a few days instead of a few weeks or months! 

Also, it's harder to break those big mother needles.