Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Yarn Chicken

 

I am nearing the end of Radient Rubies, I did something smart.  I started weighing my yarn.  Each row, I checked how many grams I was using per row, how many grams I had left, and how many grams I should save for the edging.  


Within only a few rows, I realized that the repeat in progress would absolutely be the last repeat.  I checked my yarn after every row.  


15 grams.  Two more rows.  13 grams.   Last three rows of the repeat.  10 grams.  Six rows of border.  3 grams.  


I feel pretty confident going into the cast off, but it is a new bind off for me, so I can't be certain enough of the yarn usage to relax.  


It is a Suprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.  That sounds like something that might use more yarnage than your average row.  


The bind off is as stretchy as advertised, which is absolutely required to form the little points at the tips.  But it requires a backward Yarn Over.  That sounds simple enough, doesn't it?  Just do a yarn over in the opposite direction than you normally would.  Except my brain no longer thinks to do a Yarn Over.  My fingers do it using muscle memory.  And my head can't wrap around which direction I am supposed to be overing the yarn.  I literally have to start a knit stich, take note of the direction, undo the almost knit stitch, do the Yarn Over in the opposite direction, then complete the rest of the steps.  EVERY BLOODY TIME.  I can't even retain the information for more than one stitch.  


When I think about it, I simply cannot remember which way the Yarn Over is supposed to go.  It has been hundreds of stitches bound, and I cannot for the life of me remember the opposite direction.  It is excruciating!  I have spent hours binding off, and I am still only halfway!


Today it is all about the muscle memory vs the brain memory.