Adventures in Pattern Writing: Episode 4, Put It All Together

See this?

Do you know what this is?

If you guessed that it was a draft version of the pattern for my Packer socks, you would be correct! After knitting and reknitting, procrastination, deciphering notes and scribbles, charting and recharting, fighting with computers, cutting and pasting, writing and re writing, with some cursing and hair-pulling mixed in for good measure, I was able to hit print on the first draft of this pattern.


I would celebrate, but it is only the first draft. The next step will be to knit another pair of the socks, using the pattern and making note of any changes that need to be made.  I haven't even started the test knitting, and I already have a list of necessary edits. I'm still not totally happy with the instructions for the short-row heel, I'm going to dig through some sources and make notes as I knit and hope to be able to refine the language a bit. I also need to measure the gauge once this pair is completed.  


The graphs might need to be adapted for use by a right handed knitter. Because I am left handed I knit backwards from left to right instead of from right to left, the way a right hander would. This sometimes changes the way graphs are read.

Despite these minor setbacks, I feel I'm making good progress on the pattern over the past few weeks. As soon as I finish the pair of socks on my needles, I will start work on the test pair, and make further notes about what needs to be changed or clarified. I've yet to decide on what player's number will be on the back of the socks and who the recipient will be. I'm not sure if I should keep them, as I already have a pair of lucky Packer socks (though are they still lucky despite now having seen two losses?). However, in my world, few people are actually qualified to own handknit socks. The pattern is designed for a foot wearing a woman's size 8 shoes, which does limit potential wears. I'll have to think about it.

Adventures in Pattern Writing: Episode 3, Perfectionism Rears Its Ugly Head (Again)

I'm what you might call a selective perfectionist. Some things I can just slap together and not care, but when it comes to knitting, I'll redo, redo, redo until I'm happy with the results.

While this tendency can product some particularly excellent results, but it also has been the cause of massive amounts of frustration, and copious amounts of inappropriate, foul, colorful language.

After finally conquering inserting my charts from Microsoft Excel into Word, I started working on importing all of the heel charts (numbers 0 to 9) into the pattern. Then I looked at my Matthews jersey, hanging on the drying rack, I looked at the 52, I looked at the charts for the 5 and 2, I looked back at the 52, back at the charts. They didn't look the same.

Sure, the 5 and 2 I charted looked like a 5 and a 2, but not like the ones on the jersey. The numbers on the jersey were, blockier, had more straight edges. At that point, I already knew what was coming, but I fought it for awhile. Maybe it was the jersey's problem, not mine. I decided to compare the numbers on my Rodgers jersey (yes, mom, MY Rodgers jersey). Again, my charted 1 and 2 looked like a 1 and a 2, but not like the ones on the jersey. Crap.

The Original Five

I wasn't ready to face reality just quite yet, though. Clearly, I must own two faulty jerseys, so I dug out Husband's jersey, and the dog's jersey. Nope, the numbers were consistent from jersey to jersey and not the same as the ones on my socks.

Once again, I fought the inevitable. It wasn't really going to matter, I told myself. No one is going to look at the numbers on the heels of these socks and point out that they are not shaped exactly like the numbers on the players' jerseys. What kind of person notices that sort of thing? Most likely no one would ever know, and if they know, it is even more likely that no one would ever care.

Edited Five

Except for me. I would know. And I cared. And I knew what I had to do.

I printed out ten blank heel charts. Then I went to the Packer's website to find pictures of jerseys, and I recharted all of the numbers. And the process started all over again, hand drawing, charting in Excel, cutting and pasting (using Paste Special, at least I remember that) into Word.

And, I'm glad I did it. Otherwise it would have bothered me, and I would have ended up doing it at some point anyway. We all know I'm crazy like that.

In other news, the knitting on the Spatterdash fingerless gloves is done and I was lucky enough to find buttons for them. I just need to block, weave in ends, and assemble. Yay!