Getting it right kinda

Long, slow day at Skein but I did have one new student. This one is a winner. She's been trying to remember stuff she learned when she was about five. But when she came to buttonholes she wasn't sure what to do. So she came in for a lesson. We spent about three hours getting her clear about some of the things she was doing. Mostly about how to read a pattern. (Working with a Sirdar pattern can be a challenge. I wish they'd include charts and schematics.)

There were a few things that didn't work quite the way she expected but mostly it was the yarn. She had purchased, the day before, some very textured yarn in two colors. The pattern has seed stitch diamond shapes all over it. She wanted to do the seed stitch in a contrast color but when she realized what that would involve she decided to go with one color. After about four rows she reached the conclusion that the pattern was not going to show up at all. So she changed the yarn to a smooth one and started over. And she learned experientially the value of markers and row counters.

It was so refreshing to have a student that just "got it" right away. I did have a problem with the way she does her purl stitches. She knits continentally and was making her purl stitches through the back of the loop but knitting through the front of the loop. She even understood when I explained how this would twist the stitches. So she's going to knit through the back of the loop. At least for the moment.
I think there may be another way to deal with this but that's all I could come up with right then.

I didn't get much done on my sweater last night. My friend Carol called. Now Carol is a very heart of gold, salt of the earth type of person but when she calls you can kiss a good chunk of the evening goodbye. She's a good friend so I wouldn't think of trying to cut the call short. But after an hour I told her I really needed to go get some dinner.

So another hour goes by and it's almost 10 o'clock. I did manage a couple of rows and a few more this morning. And I finished the seemingly interminable scarf for Skein. I don't know yet what the next shop project will be. I'm not pushing for anything right now since I have holiday knitting that needs to be started.