Part 2: Turning the charts for Onerva into a written pattern (up to row 16)

That chart for Onerva has teeny boxes and even teeeeeeeny-er symbols. For me, reading charts is hard enough. The stupid symbols tend to merge and get all scrambled together after a while and I just don’t have enough brain function to deal with it by that point. Anyone else like this? Anyone else who’s like me and would so much rather just read a stinking pattern?

Oh, and uhh, anyone need some help figuring out how to start your work because the stupid freaking chart doesn’t include the little starting bit. And it doesn’t show the garter stitch border because the symbol for knit is a blank space. And it doesn’t include the wrong side, only ever other row that is the right side. Yeah, suuuuuper helpful chart.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am your hero. I have written up the chart as a pattern up until the 16th row (so far). You want it? Do you reeeeeeaaaaaly waaaaaaaaaaant it? Well, fine, here it is:


• CO 3 sts
• k3
• k, yo, k, yo, k
• k2, p, k2
• k2, yo, k, yo, k2
• k2, p3, k2
• k2, yo, k3, yo, k2
• k2, p5, k2
• k2, k2tog, yo, k, yo, ssk, k2 (this bit is the first row of the chart)
• k2, p5, k2
• k2, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k2
• k2, p7, k2
• k2, k2tog, yo, k, yo, s1k2togpsso, yo, k, yo, ssk, k2
• k2, p9, k2
• k2, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k2
• k2, p11, k2
• k2, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, s1k2togpsso, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k2
• k2, p13, k2
• k2, k2tog, yo, k, yo, s1k2togpsso, yo, k3, yo, s1k2togpsso, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k2
• k2, p15, k2
• k2, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, s1k2togpsso, yo, k3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k2
• k2, p17, k2



On a few obvious notes: the first and past 2 stitches will always be knitted, and on the wrong-side-rows you’ll always purl all of the stitches except for the knitted border. Also, you increase by 2 stitches every right-side row except for when you get to 9. When you increase to 9 stitches you stay that way for 4 rows, I know, it’s weird, but that’s the way it is and it will look fine after blocking I promise. (The first row of the chart is when you have 9 stitches, by the way.)

Abbreviations (I think they’re all pretty obvious except for the long one, but I’ll post them all:)

k: knit (if there’s a number after it, you knit that many stitches)
p: purl (if there’s a number after it, you purl that many stitches)
yo: yarn over
k2tog: knit 2 stitches together
ssk: slip slip knit (or the cheating way like I do it: knit 2 stitches together through the back of the stitches)
s1k2togpsso: (it’s a double decrease, a.k.a. turning 3 stitches into 1)slip one stitch to the right needle with the yarn in the back, then knit the next 2 stitches together, and then move the slipped stitch over the stitch created bu the k2tog as if you were binding off


Okay, well that about covers it. Have I casted on yet? Nope. I missed a few days of school while I was in California, and now I have the task of making up all of my homework. As much as I wish I could knit while doing my homework, it’s kind of impossible. Maybe I’ll cast on tonight after I’m finished my homework.. Mmmm, maybe.

Part 1: Decoding the pattern for Onerva (READ THIS IF YOU NEED HELP FIGURING IT OUT TOO)

Do you know what is really, really frustrating? Trying to figure out a !@#$%^&* lace pattern when you’ve been awake for 18 hours and you’re only running off of 5 hours of sleep. That is not even close to being enough sleep to function normally, and especially not enough sleep to decode a lace pattern written in Finnish. Well, actually, some other (most likely well rested) patient individuals had already decoded it and made up a chart in English. So technically I’m trying to decode an English chart. And under normal circumstances I can do that. I have Google, I have Ravelry, I can pretty much figure anything out using these 2 tools.

So what happens when Google can’t help me, and not everyone on Ravelry is jumping at the opportunity to decode the pattern for me? Things get frustrating. Insanity levels become moderate. Levels of my patience drop considerably. I become a very hostile knitter.


See, my problem? There’s a preeeeeeeetty triangular shawl. Her name is Onerva. Onerva is Finnish. There’s a language barrier. Then I discovered Onerva 2.0 in English. I just assumed that this Onerva 2.0 would be easy for me considering that any English-speaking idiot would be able to read a chart that’s written in English.. So, so stupid of me. This Onerva has brought me to be my knees, whimpering, crying out in pain, and the worst part? I haven’t even started knitting it yet.

!@#$%^&*. If I am being defeated by a shawl I haven’t even CO for yet, can you only imagine what it will be like once I do CO?! It’ll be a nightmare. A scaaaaaaaaaaaary nightmare in which a life-sized pair of knitted needles stab me in the stomach and a mutant pair of embroidery scissors chop of my head. It’s a gory, terrifying, painful nightmare in which I am the main star.


I figured everything out except for the abbreviation “m”. Nobody knew what “m” meant. Then someone figured it out. “m” means s1k2togpsso. Now if I can just Google what that last part means I’ll be ready to go and WAIT, WHAT?! My Internet got slower, and slooooower, and then it came to a halt. Awesome, just what I need.

So.. No more Internet, no more pattern help, just me. By myself. Confused out of my mind. Getting way more frustrated by the passing seconds. And what do I do? Pull up WordPerfect and type out a makeshift blog that will be posted later when the Internet comes back.

Hey, so uhh, funny thing, I have a blackberry. A black berry with Internet. And while I am not going to blog on my blackberry, I can surely look up what psso means on my blackberry, my blackberry’s Internet still is working. When do I figure this out? Half an hour after I could've originally figured this out.

...


Excuse me while I go bang my head against a slab of concrete and cry quietly for a little while.

Psso means pass slipped stitch over. The entire thing? S1k2togpsso? That’s code for slip 1 stitch to the right needle, knit 2 stitches together, and then pass the slipped stitch over the stitch you just made by knitting two together. It's a double decrease.

That’s simple enough. I know how to do that.

Onerva 2.0 has a lot of abbreviations that took me entirely too long to figure out. And to anyone who can not handle the insanity I went through, I will now post the abbreviations for Onerva.



o (yarn over)

/ (right decrease, or knit 2 stitches together)

\ (left decrease, or slip, slip, knit. I’ve learned this can be more easily accomplished by just knitting 2 stitches through the back loop. It’s exactly the same.)

m (slip 1 stitch, do a right decrease, then move the slipped stitch over the stitch made by the decrease like you’re binding off)


Oh, and for the odd rows? You knit the first 2 stitches, purl to the last 2 stitches, and knit those last 2. The chart doesn’t really show the garter stitch border, but there is one, I promise.

Long, overdue post about buying too much yarn.

While I was on vacation in Santa Clara I did my best to go to a yarn shop - for the first time ever I might add - and I successfully went to 2. Bobbin's Nest and Green Planet Yarn, both of which were visited twice. The goods (because me? going to a knitting shop and not buying anything?! BAHAHA)

1. 2 skeins of Mirasol K'acha in Sunshine (it's more like a warm, buttery color). It's super soft, and super fuzzy, and super beautiful, and OH MY GAAH IT SHEDS MORE THAN A GOLDEN RETRIEVER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SUMMER!!

2. 2 skeins of Stonehenge Fiber Mills Sheperd's Wool in Blue Spruce (emerald green + teal = looooooove) and uhhh... some bright cobalt blue color.. let me go check *toddles over to room and rifles for four hours in the yarn bin trying to find the one stinking skein and..* AH! It's good, plain, Blue. Seriously? Lame. Anyways, yeah, in the skein it's alright, but as soon as it hits the needles it gets sooooooft. I can only imagine how much more it softens after a wash.

3. 1 skein of Malabrigo sock in the LAST AVAILABLE SKEIN OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COLORWAY THAT EVER EXISTED, or Solis. It's variegated with blues and greens and seriously, I'd kill somebody and run around the world naked for a skein of this yarn. And I got it, I'm so happy. I wasn't even expecting to find it because the yarn shop didn't claim to carry it (which they didn't, up until a month prior) and because it's the yarn I need for Onerva and the universe usually hates me in situations like that(rants about this topic a littler later, stay tuned).

4. 2 skeins of Atlante in a pretty lavender color(technically, shade 2107, but that's no fun). It came as a kit for the zig-zag lace scarf, I can't resist kits, they're just so easy. Problem? It's 100% bamboo. What does this mean? That the yarn, despite being smooth and beautiful, is ridiculously splitty and a paaaaaaaaaaain to knit with.


So total? 7 skeins.. And quite a few new sets of needles (straights, curculars, and DPNS).


Oh, and as if I didn't buy enough yarn, lets go off on a completely unrelated rant about how my mother found a pattern at a quilting convention for a handknit tote bag out of pieces of fabric tied together. She picked hot pink, forest green, black with multi-color polka dots, and baby blue. Individually they're pretty, but together? It's relatable to clown vomit. Half-way through me knitting the giant thing, she went off and finally recovered her sanity and decided she hated the colors together(Uhhh, I could've told you that mom) and wanted to pick new colors. You'd just assume I'd rip out the ugly thing and give her the fabric back but nooo, she wants to see how it's knitted up before she cuts more fabric in case she hates the pattern. *headdesk*

~~~

A a few weeks ago I found a pattern called Onerva. It's a triangular shawl and it's beautiful. Problem? The pattern is written in Finnish, the chart is weird and also in Finnish, I've never even read a chart before, I've never knit lace or anything like lace before, and I've never knit a triangular shawl before. Oh, and I don't speak Finnish or know anyone who does speak Finnish.

Of course this will be a piece of cake.. you know, after I find some sort of something on Ravelry that will help me decode this thing. And I did! Obscuriosity KAL, and old one, but still extremely helpful. Bonus: it included new charts in English, and I like things written in English.

Case #1 of the universe helping me out.

Then I decided to go to a yarn shop and see if I could find some yarn comparable to the yarn required for the pattern. Turns out the yarn shop had just started carrying the yarn I needed.

Case #2 of the universe being cool.

Oh, and I found one single skein of the most beautiful colorway that ever existed. They had sold out of all of the skeins except for one, which was all I needed.

Case #3 of the universe handing me everything I wanted.

Oh, and I found the right sized needles, the only pair, hidden behind a bunch of needles that were too short.

Okay, 4 for 4.


So you'd think that as soon as I got home and got my hands on the pattern I would instantly start it up.. right? Maybe not. Well you see, I have a bunch of unfinished projects, and most of them are Christmas/birthday gifts that I should get started on, and well you know how these things are.. FINE, I'LL ADMIT IT, I AM THE WORLD'S BIGGEST WEENIE. Yup. I printed out the pattern, I read everything that is about Onerva, I've looked at 46,856,235 pictures of it and I practically drooled all over my keyboard. Thing is, I've never done this before, and I'm a little intimidated.

Why the heck should I be scared of a shawl. What's the worst that will happen? It won't work out and I'll have to frog the entire thing? Seriously, it's not going to eat me, no one will throw eggs at me if I mess up, it won't kill anyone, I can pretend like it never happened. And hey, you know, I might even be able to do it right and have it look just as fantastically as everyone else's. You never know.

I will knit this damn shawl because I AM BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN YOU ONERVA, YOU HEAR ME? I CAN FROG YOU AND SEND YOU TO THE BACK OF THE CLOSET JUST LIKE SERPENTINA, GOT IT! I AM THE MASTER, I AM KING! (Or er.. you know, queen.)

~~~

No finished objects, just a few WIPs. (I got some serious staritis this week, it was the yarn fumes.)


Oh, and as an added note, my yarn stash is growing at an alarming rate. It's overflowing the 3 available yarn bins I have for it. As of now, I'm on a yarn diet. WOOT!

Magic Ribbon

I am frightening close to being done with this periwinkle hat. All I have left to do is to work about an inch more, decrease for 2-3 rows, bind off, and sew it up. I was originally looking for some black satin ribbon to weave through the holes created by the increases at the top of the ribbing, and then I found the bright yellow ribbon that was on The Knit that Sami gave me for my birthday. It's fate, let me explain.

1) It's the perfect length. It is long enough to thread through the holes, but short enough to tie into a bow without cutting it.

2) It contrasts the periwinkle/indigo/blue/purple/whatever-the-heck-color-it-is yarn perfectly. Seriously, it's kind of ridiculous how good the colors look together.

3) It's the perfect width. It's not too thick that it over-powers the ribbing, but it's not so thin that it's like thread.


Honestly, this was fate. The knitting gods influenced you to pick out this ribbon, because it is perfect for this hat. Sami, I thank you for the magic ribbon. I'm a big fan of magic ribbon.


Now, if I could focus long enough to finish this damn hat so that (a) I can start something else, and (b) I can wear it to the bus stop tomorrow so my ears won't turn bright red and threaten to freeze and fall off.


Pictures will be posted either tonight or tomorrow.. or in a couple of days because I am laaaaaaaaaaaaazy.