Confusion...

I just spent a bit of time looking to see if I could find any elaborations on Handknit Holidays. And I'm just baffled. I ran into this page which seems to be reviews of all knitting books out there. The part I'm having a hard time with is the fact that almost every book has at least one reviewer that says the book sucks because they need corrections. Are knitting books supposed to be perfect? Even if someone tries to knit the object before the pattern is actually published, there may be some things that are a bit off I would think. I think the point of pattern books is to get ideas for making the objects, and corrections are usually easy enough to get. I do, however, think that there should be a website out there that collects corrections for all the major books (maybe it could have a subset for magazines) so that you could do a one-stop shop for pattern corrections when you need them.

Getting back to the Over the knee Stockings, I realized last night that I had made a mistake in the lace pattern. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, on the chart, it has one stitch marked for me to k2tog. That just doesn't make sense because it's one stitch that's worked over two stitches. However, while I was at The Point someone there pointed out that a stitch I thought was a k2tog, was actually a ssk (the symbols look similar on the chart). This goes back to what Claudine was saying while I was making The SURPRISE!! which is - COLOR CODE YOUR CHART (she'd say it like that too with the caps and the bold, I'm quite confident of that). This is, indeed, quite useful advice, and I will do so immediately.

I've run into a different problem however, in decreasing the stitches as described in the pattern. I think I just need some clarification because I don't understand the thigh area which is decreased on either side of the eyelets. It says to knit to two stitches before the end of the round, (even though earlier the instructions say that the decreases should be on both sides of the lace pattern which is after the first 8 stitches in the round), and then do the decrease. I would almost understand this if they mean to the last two stitches of the chart, but even that doesn't make a helluva lot of sense since there's cabling at that point, and I fail to see how that would be an "invisible decrease."

Well, at least Purl is having a trunk show of all of the objects from Handknit Holidays. It started October, 20th, and will go until October 30th or so I think. I'm going to head over there with Jill and see if I can figure anything out from the stockings tomorrow. After that I think we're headed to the point for some needling debauchery.

Technology update: I have a photo now! It was taken by Michelle while we were at Rhinebeck. Yes, that's Brook's Farm harmony I'm falling in love with right there, and yes, I did end up taking it home. But I haven't had my way with it yet, that will come with due time! Also, I added a few more blogs to the sidebar. You Knit What?? is a bunch of ridiculously ugly patterns. Better than the patterns, however, are the comments of fellow bloggers. They're hilarious! Also, My Big Fat Needle is new to the list. I really admire his talent, and kind of look up to him in a naive magical way I haven't really experienced since I was first starting school (think 1st grade). Anyway, he's a fascinating individual, and I learned of his Blog through Ilanna's blog (which is also on the list on the side).