Mental note to self: Don't forget to prepare for your scheduled colonoscopy next week. ********
See the first photo? You're looking down into the toe of a just-knitted-and-felted slipper.
And the aqua hook? That would be the knitting stitch marker which I left in the slipper by mistake. Didn't discover it, in fact, until the slipper was fully felted (and the stitch marker totally imbedded).
I've tugged, twisted, pulled, yanked, said a naughty word or two or ten, but I can't get the darned thing out of there. And I suspect the slipper recipient won't want to wear a slipper with a plastic hook sticking up from the sole.
The truth is, I accidentally left a stitch marker in EACH of the slippers of this pair. (See second photo for a good view of what the marker looks like when not imbedded in a slipper.) The knitting directions didn't call for placing a marker just about mid-point of the front sole, and now I understand why.
But I thought it would be a good idea, for some reason. So I put the safety-pin shaped markers in each slipper, then forgot they were there.
I was able to coax the marker out of one of the slippers. This gave me false hope that the other could be removed.
Not yet. Hasn't happened. Still yanking and pulling but having no luck.
I'll tell you one thing for certain: I'm NOT knitting a third slipper to replace the "hooked" one. Making felted slippers isn't hard work but oh, my word, is it ever tedious work. Typical instructions for a row read: K1, M1, K1, M1, K1, M1, K29, M1, K4, M1, K4, M1, K29, M1....and on, and on, with once in a while a "W&T" thrown in to put me over the edge. "W&T"? What the heck is "W&T"? Wrap and turn, as it so happens. Coulda fooled me.
I had to transfer the instructions, row by row, to my little knitting notebook, then carefully place a check mark after each completed row. Sometimes I had to place check marks within a row if the row directions were really, really detailed, because I'd lose track of whether I was at the first, second or third "K29" of that one row.
And I had to count out loud. Often. "13, 14, 15, 16, 17...," which is when Ken would suddenly launch into a story about a friend he once knew who owned a Model T carburetor that had once belonged to....
That would cause me to have to remove the row of stitches and start again. This time I would count out loud more loudly, so Ken would get the hint.
So these slippers didn't materialize easily. And now one has a stitch marker imbedded in its sole. And I've run out of ideas for removing it.
Maybe I should take it to the gastroenterologist next week. I bet he's got just the tool.
Good luck on your colonoscopy. I did mine in the fall so I'm good now for five years.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure but in your position, I might choose doing a second colonoscopy to knitting a third slipper.
Who would have thought a hook could be that hard to get out of felted material. Good luck on getting it out.
how funny, you sound like a mathematican with all your counting. I remember those days. I actually did a small sweater for my first son with a yoke with different colors. I'll have to dig out that photo somewhere and post it. I used to knit in my younger days, now I'd rather type or create on the computer.
ReplyDeleteOh my word. If I can just control my fits of laughter....so I can type this...haha...ahem. First, what a great reminder to check on my next colonoscopy and oh I can so relate to the knitting detail. Not that I have ever come close to knitting anything as intricate as you are always doing but I have to mark each and every row when I k & p for pete's sakes! And my husband, too, seems to launch into his old Navy stories just as I am about to do some dramatic knit stitch...Anyhow, I do hope you get the hook out, otherwise ask the doctor if he has any suggestions!
ReplyDeleteI think it would be priceless to see your dr's face when you haul out the slipper and ask for his opinion!!!! Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteI love this blog....laughed right out loud. Surely there is a way to remove it and I will bet money you will find it. Let us hear the "rest of the story".
ReplyDeleteI'm always OK with the colonoscopy part. I just don't much like the prep. However, I know it's extremely important. My grandfather died of colon cancer.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your knitting. I love that new photo of you.