Tink Tink Tinkity Tink

Tink, tink, tink, tink ... this is what I was saying in my head today as I was un-knitting two and a half rounds of Debra's Mittens. Thankfully it only took me two and a half rounds to realize I had forgotten to leave a thumb hole. Speaking of this particular work-in-progress, here is a picture of the first of Debra's Mittens:

I really love the pattern, "Pearl Chain Mittens" by handepande (available for download on Ravelry).  The challenge of the color changes keep it interesting, while the simple repetition of the pattern keeps it from being overwhelming.  Ok, so I took a few liberties; it's been a while since I followed a pattern to a tee.  Admittedly, my edits aren't always as awesome as I expect them to be, but sometimes I land on something good.  Equally as good as the original, at least.  I'm still a young knitter (or this is what I tell myself in consolation, since one of those big landmark birthdays is looming over me) and I'm cheeky and bumptious enough to presume I know better than seasoned designers of the craft.


This pair of mittens doesn't have a gusset, since I couldn't figure out how to build it in without messing up the pattern.  I'm on the fence about gusset-less mittens.  I've only knit mittens with gussets to this point.  I think Debra's Mittens work sans-gusset, but if you ask me, on a plain-jane mitten, I am pro-gusset.


Final note on Debra's Mittens: the yarn, Caron Vickie Howell Sheep(ish) in Black(ish), White(ish) and Lime(ish), has grown on me, now that I've gotten accustomed to working with it.  Sorry for indirectly bashing Sheep(ish) in the previous post, Vickie Howell.  It's soft and fuzzy and warm, perfect for mittens.


Back to the original topic: do any of you out there, in that dear void - or "cloud" although, I like Meg Ryan's You've Got Mail reference better - do any of you talk to yourself while you knit?  Inside your head, I mean - although, I am also guilty of knit-speaking aloud to myself.  My only evidence to date that I'm not alone is that a guy I dated once used to tell me that his sister was also known to mumble: "knit, purl, knit, knit, purl, purl ..." whilst completing her rounds (By the way, that's a reference to another of my double-yous eye pee, "Hedgerow Socks" by Jane Cochran, also available for download on Ravelry.  Picture below).

I'll leave you with a few questions that occurred to me as I typed this post:


1.  Who first used the word "tink" to describe knitting backward?  It's BRILLIANT.  

2.  Is there a proper way to cite a knitting pattern, a (accent grave) la MLA format or APA format, etc.?  Huh.


3.  It has often occurred to me to ask the question, why is W called a "double-u"?  Did the letter W really not warrant its own unique name?  Furthermore, should we follow the same naming convention when multiples of that letter are involved?  WW becomes Quad-U and so on?  That's a rather slippery slope, I guess, since with any URL we'd be using the prefix "Sext-U dot such-and-such dot com" ...

Mrs. Pi