Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Take that, Barbara Walker!!!!


Being that I am a hippie-new age-metaphysical kind of girl, it is only natural that I would want to knit a peace symbol, right? Afterall, I felt it necessary to make a peace symbol sand sculpture at the beach. Upon surfing the net, I managed to find such a thing. The pattern is in Barbara Walker's Treasure of Charted Knitting Designs. I was able to actually find the chart for it posted on the net, but wasn't able to get anywhere with it even with a key chart for what the symbols are. I went to the library and reserved the book. Now, apparently, when one reserves a book from the library and they need to contact another library to actually get the book, they call up Kevin Costner and ask him to act in his role in The Postman and send the message of the book request by horseback. No, no. That can't be right. You would actually get the book quicker that way. They contact Kevin Costner, and have him WALK the request to the library that actually has the book. Needless to say, it took two weeks to get the book to my local library. And guess what? I was on vacation when it got there. Now, it takes two weeks for them to get the book, but they only give you 48 hours to pick it up before they send Kevin Costner back into suburbia with the book. I did have the foresight that this might happen, though, and left my handy dandy library card with my neighbor who picked it up for me. So, I have been wrestling with this pattern. I swear this woman is related to Ann Budd( who has a warped sense of humore in heel turning) and that both Barbara Walker and Ann Budd work directly for the Dark Prince of knitting insanity. In the book, she has charts galore and a few written out patterns. I tried to match the written out instructions with the charts and make some kind of sense of it all. It only got me so far. So, what I did was take the vague instructions she provided and used my own sense of creativity to come up with the finished product. I stayed up til like 1am while I watched Animal Planet, determined to see it to the finish. (My hubby fell asleep with remote in a death grip in his hands and that's the show that came on. However, I'm not complaining too much. Perhaps it was that bit on naked mole rates that helped me speed the deciphering along.) The completed peace symbol is a bit rough around the edges, considering my own creative interpretation but I think I can tidy it up a bit on the real deal. The thing is..... I have bested you, Barbara Walker! HA! Take that. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. After completing the knitted piece, I did the Evan Almighty dance. Who's the knitter now, huh? I'm bad, yah, I'm a bad mama jamma allright.
I did have the smarts to write out what I was doing as I was deciphering the peace symbol and once I tidy it up a bit, I will post it here to share with all the other hippie knitters. I don't think I'm infringing on any copyright laws since the symbols Ms. Walker was suggesting that I do were not at all what I actually did.
Peace Out!
Namaste!

4 comments:

Calicoknits said...

You are a funny funny girl. See you in a week. I WILL have sock blockers when I come home. See. Positive thinking. Didn't think I could do that didja?

theyarnwhisperer said...

I can't wait to get the pattern for your sock blockers. My mind is whirling around with ideas like little tiny hampsters in their wheels. Have fun.

=^..^= jlw said...

Hey there! I love the peace sign. I got some sock blockers from ebay that are wooden and have CATS cut out on the top! I have never used them but they are nice to look at! How is your rogue coming along? i have got 10 rows done of the pattern, after doing the ribbing for the hem. I am not talented enough to do more than go exactly by the pattern! ttfn, jerri

Aysel said...

I love the color. Never thought before to knit a piece sign: it's something different. But still the color is amazing.