Dispatch: This is Dispatch. We read you Search and Rescue, go ahead.
Search and Rescue: We've recovered the missing knitter, I repeat, we've recovered the missing knitter. She is alive and well. She seems to be in shock, muttering something incoherent about slk2togpsso, but seems otherwise well.
Dispatch: Good work, team. Have you recovered any personal effects?
Search and Rescue: Just one item, Dispatch. We found her cradling it like a baby, cooing, "There, there, Kiri."
After a near catastrophic turn of events and a successful Search and Rescue effort, I present to you my unblocked Kiri! I still have 8 rows of edging to complete, but barring any unforeseen disasters, Kiri is basically (and finally!) done. Right now, she's measuring about 3 feet wide and close to 2 feet long unblocked, so I'm hoping for something near 5 feet by 3 feet after blocking. And the "near catastrophic turn of events, " you ask? Well, after posting last Tuesday, I cockily went about knitting Chart 2 without a lifeline, only to realize that I'd made an egregious error about 3 pattern repeats back....read: 2000 stitches back!! Realizing that there was no way I could frog without losing the correct placement of the stitches, I had no choice but to tink back. Yes, you read that right folks, I tinked back 2000+ stitches!! Only to realize, after 2 nights of tinking, that Kiri was ultimately unsalvageable. After much profanity, I tearfully tossed her in the Frog pond. Fortunately, that evening I happened upon Margene's beautiful post (thank you for the link, Laura!) and managed to compose myself long enough to cast-on again. With the help of a few judiciously placed angels watching over me (Thank you, Barbara 
and Jill!!), 
and with Chrissy's (my awesome Secret Santa!) beautiful stitch marker 
to yell my name and snap me back into concentration mode whenever my mind would wander, things proceeded smoothly. Dare I say, it was a blessing in disguise, as Version #3 looks much better than my previous two attempts. With size 7 Addi Turbos, the lace looks much more cohesive this time...not to mention all the grief saved with that snag-free join!I'm still not sure about the exact nature of the egregious error in Version #2. I can only assume that I misread the chart. Now, I know my hearing's going, but I didn't think my vision was going, too! I have a mild (15 dB) hearing loss due to recurrent ear infections during grade school. It's nothing too major; I've tried hearing aids, but they just make people sound like they're mumbling loudly. I've learned to compensate instead by quasi-lip-reading and watching for visual clues when people speak. Which kind of doesn't work when you can't see the speaker, like with, oh, say, songs on the radio, for instance.
My baby sis, the Mercenary and I were driving around in Hilo this past summer, listening to one of those "I Love the '80's" shows on the radio. Remember that song, Hands to Heaven by Breathe? Total late '80's classic, right? I like it well enough, but one line in the chorus has always disturbed me. We're both singing along when the chorus starts. Flustered by the lyrics, I just can't contain myself any longer. "Hey, you know I'm all for gender equity and everything, right?" Hesitating nod and quizzical glance from the Mercenary. "Well, I'm trying to be open minded, but I just don't get why this guy can't call his chest a chest, rather than breasts! Don't you think that's kind of a gross image?" Total what-the-hell? look from the Mercenary. Exasperated, I sing along: Tonight I need your sweet caress, hold me in the darkness. Tonight you call my breasts love's nest... A moment of silence and then deafening laughter. "You DORK! It's Tonight you calm my restlessness!!!" Oops, one of those lightbulb moments, folks. Remind me to look into a pair of glasses when I go to pick up those hearing aids!
*******************************************************************************
Sonya and Jenn tagged me for this meme a while back- thanks for the tag, ladies!!
4 jobs you've had:
Speech/language therapist working with students with autism
Waitress at a Japanese pub and at KC Drive Inn
SPED instructor at Easter Seals; adults with severe developmental disabilities
Entomology Research Assistant (aka Termite Terminator)
4 movies you can (and have) watched over and over:
The Godfather
Gone With the Wind
Pulp Fiction
As Good As It Gets
4 TV shows you love to watch:
American Idol
ER
Barefoot Contessa
Yoshitsune
4 places you've lived:
Hilo, Hawaii
Kailua, HI
San Jose, CA
Seoul, Korea
4 places you've been on vacation:
Kaua'i (for our honeymoon!)
Disneyland
Japan
London
4 websites you visit daily:
My Yahoo
Bloglines
Ebay
elann
4 of your favorite foods:
french fries
corn chowder
mom's banana cream pie
fettucine alfredo
4 places you'd rather be right now:
LYS
at a coffee shop, knitting with the yarn purchased from LYS
at the beach, drinking coffee purchased from the coffee shop and knitting with the yarn purchased from LYS
using the bathroom without a 2 year old or 4 year old giving running commentary alongside me!
I'm pretty sure that I'm the very last person in the blogosphere to do this meme, but if you're still waiting for a tag, consider yourself "it!"
37 comments:
When you don´t have english as a first language, it´s sometimes very hard to hear what the singer actually sings. As a kid me and my sister listen a lot to ABBA and pretend that we were Agneta and Frida and tried to sing their song in some made-up-english. Today when I buy a new CD and listen to it the first time I read the lyric´s while listening to the record. Take Care!
Amen to that last one! I hate locking the bathroom door when it is only Willow and me in the house... but she has no compunction at all at opening the door whenever she wants... no matter what I am doing (sigh)
I like your list of places you would like to be... I could definitely use sitting in a coffee shop with a vanilla café latté, a new bag of goodies from the LYS, and a few hours to myself.
yeah! kiri is done !!! you survived #2, and i think your angels helped ;) restlessness! he he he LOL... glad someome told you! i thought the beach boys song I Wish They All Could Be California Girls song was signing about
"poultry" in the sand,but it ended up to be a "palm tree" in the sand!
Chris! You survived! Holy guacamole, if I had tinked 2000 stitches and then frogged the rest I would have been sick for days, Zen post notwithstanding. But she looks beautiful now. Wow, the color is fabulous! Can't wait to see it blocked.
I guess I knew you were a speech therapist at one time, but I didn't realize you had worked with kids and adults with autism and developmental disabilities. My Sam has autism -- so from a parent who knows from autism -- thanks for all the Very Hard Work you did for them! ::hugs:: Now, do you have any tips for me to help Sam initiate more spontaneous language production? LOL!
Kiri looks so pretty! Can't wait to see her all blocked out! :)
Congrats on finally getting Kiri licked! Can't wait to see it all blocked and beautiful.
Funny that we both put french fries and a banana dessert in our list of 4 favorite foods. Mmmmm french fries . . .
I have no diagnosed hearing problems and I've always thought the line was "tonight you call my breasts love's nest". It make more sense the other way.
Kiri looks amazing. I can't wait to see her blocked.
Hurrah for Kiri!!!! She came out beautifully! See, third times a charm - I knew all along you could do it. I agree, it is still painful to tink and especially to frog, but I guess we do just have to look at it in the right perspective. As for song lyrics - I always thought Jimi Hendrix was confessing bi-sexual tendencies when he sang "'scuse me while I kiss this guy". Until the day the DJ said "Yeah, Jimi, "'scuse me while I kiss the sky". Certainly an ah ha moment for me!!!!
Your Kiri is looking great. When did you have the time to do that? I can't wait to see it blocked.
By the way, you might get kicked out of the ghetto knitters club if you keep using your Addis!!
PS -- I also like your shortie socks from your last post. Do you really wear wool socks in Hawaii????
Oh man - the tale of Kiri almost did me in. Tinking back 2000 stitches - do you know how many potential errors there would be for me in just that process alone? Nope, I don't have the constitution for it... I would have caved - I bow to you and can't wait to see it blocked!
You are so close to the end ... go for it girl! Next time it would be a finished Kiri, yay!
2000 stitches? That must qualify you for knitting sainthood or something--I would have ripped it out in a fit of rage I think :) It looks great though; I can't wait to see it blocked out.
I hear you on the alone time in the bathroom--mine are (almost)6 and 3. The 6 year old has entered into the "I need my privacy" phase so she leaves me alone. The 3 year old and the cats however never miss a chance to hang out in there with me :(
Oh, GOD--tinking 2000 stitches????? You are strong, woman. Strong, I tell you.
How fabulous to finally be done! And the color is breathtaking. Can't wait to see it blocked. :)
Breasts loves nest... *titter* *guffaw* That's a classic! I love that song.
My hands hurt in sympathy about the tinking 2000 stitches. I'm glad you've started again. It'll be worth it.
Thanks for offering the red envelope help. Luckily my mother has a secret stash of them! She's offerinig some up to me.
So exciting about the Kiri! I'm with Kim--going to put in a petition to the Pope to anoint you Saint Chris, patron of those who must tink, causing miraculous lifelines to appear where there weren't any!
You're so funny with the lyrics...of course I remember that song! And now I've got to work to keep it out of my head. ;-) I can't even tell you how many lyrics I've mangled in the past. Too many to tell here, that's for sure.
Can I join you on that beach?
Interseting tag!! I love your Kiri. I can't believe you spent so much time frogging. That's something that very well could have happened to me. Well, I guess it did and is still happening with my gloves. We'll just have to both wear life jackets, so we don't go under next time we fall in that darn pond!
Oh, wow! I hate tinking 20 stitches much less 2000. You must have been fit to be tied, as my mother would say. I can't wait to see Kiri all blocked. The colors are gorgeous.
I love misheard lyrics. Mine is another 80s hit, Jessie's Girl. I thought "She's loving him with that body, I just know it" was "She's loving him at that party, I just know it." I think my version makes just as much sense.
My husband has a hearing loss in one of his ears because of scar tissue from having so many sets of tubes put in his ears when he was a kid, so he goes through the same thing, the lip reading and whatnot. He is also lyrically impaired and is always spouting off the wrong words to songs and it makes me giggle because sometimes what he comes up with is better than the song.
I loved that line from the past entry that you linked to where you said "How was I supposed to know that all five-year olds don't know the words to Copacabana?" Funny!
I can't wait to see Kiri blocked! I'm glad you finally showed her who is boss! 2000 stitches, I can't get over that, and then you had to frog anyway...the pain! I think that I am lace chart impaired, my only experience with a chart ended in the frog pond, with tears and swearing. The third time really is the charm!
Kiri looks great!! The colors are lovely. I can't imagine tinking 2000 stitches but it was sure worth it!
Yum corn chowder! My grandmother made it for me every time I visited her as a child.
Karen
http://nothingbutknit.blog-city.com/
why were you in seoul, korea? my grandma's parents are from korea...
is it an asian thing with the ear infections? i always had to go to the doctor for those too. i'm not deaf; i have selective hearing! hehe :) i am going blind, though; highly nearsighted with a slight astigmatism. knitting probably isn't the best hobby for someone like me.
your lyrics story reminds me of starfish's game for the PSP. starfish has this PSP game that grades you on your pronunciation of different languages: korean, japanese, chinese...and something else...but you have to keep saying it over and over into a little microphone until you get an "A".
great job on kiri! it was only a matter of time before you conquered that on :) i can't wait to see the finished product! and how quick was that!? you started all over again and then finished in a week!? dang woman, your addis were on fire!!! wonder how the kiddies are taking it ;) i imagine Stinky would LOVE to play dressup with it when it's done.
seriously, mocha java would make so much money if a yarn store opened across the driveway instead of kua`aina. oh, and if they'd have better service. you know where's a good spot? in the moana surf rider, there's the honolulu coffee company. there's a window overlooking kalakaua avenue, and you can park yourself at a table by the window and people watch while you knit. i would've said the rockers in front of moana surfrider, but that's just BEGGING for one of those "my grandmother knits" comments. ;)
whew! i should've just emailed you. my comments are getting longer and longer...
2,000 stitches! Oh, gosh, I hate tinking and would rather just rip.
As for the hearing thing, I have lots of trouble, especially with my left ear. I have to have people on my right so I can hear better (still not great). I also have more trouble with lower voices than higher ones. My husband tends to mumble when he's tired and gets mad at me because I ask him to repeat himself. He's lived with me how many years? I listen to a lot of classical; I think part of it is that I don't have to try and distinguish lyrics.
Yum - french fries! And all I can say about your Kiri is oh. my. goodness. It's gorgeous - what a great colorway.
2000 stitches!!!That is perseverance of Olympic proportions! I think you have done enough penance for sacrificing all those termites in your dark past (wink)
Kiri looks really wonderful and it has all paid off. Beautiful colors!
It pained me to read that you frogged Kiri again. Take heart that we've all been there before. Can't wait to see you in the new and improved version.
Amy
2000 stitches?! I'm not sure I even know how to coutn to 2000! Wow! But if I were to undertake such a feat I would definately use that yarn. I love the sherberty colors of your Kiri!
I always get the song lyrics wrong too! Which I then turn around and teach to my son. Oh the vicious butchered lyric circle. Will it never end?
Can I join you on the beach, drinking coffee from the coffee shop and knitting with yarn from the LYS? And I'm impressed with your tinking. I would NEVER have that much patience! I would frog the whole darn thing or forget it!
wow, I'm so impressed. You and Kiri finally started getting along. That's great. Kiri looks beautiful!
hi chris,
you have the most entertaining posts. and your kiri looks great, can't wait to see it in all its finished glory. thanks for the laughs!
Your Kiri looks amazing! What lovely colors, too! Well done and hats off to such perseverance in the face of 2000 + stitches!
I love the colors of your kiri! It's refreshing to see a brightly-colored shawl. I can't wait to see it blocked. I have some Kidsilk haze that I would love to make into a shawl but I don't think I'm a shawl-wearing kind of gal even though I love them and think they're beautiful. I'm trying to decide what else to make.
Kiri looks beautiful! Oh, I feel for you. I can't imagine tinking back 2000 stitches. I just can't!
Kiri is lovely Chris! Glad you two finally worked it out!
I can't wait to see it blocked, she will be stunning!
Don't feel bad about the mis-heard lyrics, we ALL do it, now "scuse me while I kiss this guy" :)
WOW! Great work, again! You make sure great things! I also love your stitch markers! Have a great Sunday!
Thanks for visiting my blog! Next time we're in Kona, I'll check out the LYS's for ya! I enjoy reading your blog too...have a wonderful week!
omg, i thought i would just "try" doing kiri. girl, i would seriously be muttering incoherent too! gawd, that thing has me loopy! first the chart, then the written instructions...gah! i'm seriously questioning my ability to follow directions. my lace weight yarn is sitting in a frogged pile in the corner--and i didn't even get past the first section repeat! props to you for knitting lace ;) i think i'm going to save that for a more ambitious, quiet day.
and FYI, knitting lace in the car is a BAD idea. very bad.
Thanks for all the comments on my blog... My blog has been really strange the last couple of days..
:( I have a lot of promblems with everything on blogdrive.
Beautiful! Way to go girl, I'm so impressed! And hey, I remember that song from the 80s too! I totally get it. I haven't had much time for blogsurfing as of late and at the new job, some blogs, the photos don't come up (they're blocked by the server), so I wait till I get home to comment (which means that i forget), but I'm happy to see that you finished Kiri. Awesome!
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