Twisted Observations

"I get my double vision, oh, seeing double double
Oh, I have double vision, yeah, Im getting double vision...
                                                   Lyrics by Forigner

Well, I'm not getting double vision but I am fighting an eye infection.  Still though, I can see quite well and started to ask questions about what I was seeing today:

At our "Coffee, Crochet & Chat" session this morning I was able to hook up with Priscilla and Grace.  Grace showed us a baby blanket she's crocheting for her new granddaughter and Priscilla was working on a knit project (I won't say what it is because she might want to tell you herself in her blog).  I, in trying to keep my mind off of my troubled eye, days earlier, decided to give knitting another try.  I knew I wasn't doing it right because Mini-Dee exclaimed, "Mom! You're not doing that right!"  There was no beating around the bush there!  LOL  Even though Mini-Dee tried in vain to lead me to the path of proper knitting, I kept twisting those darn stitches.

So today I pulled out my knitting project and showed it to Priscilla and Grace.  They gave me one of those polite smiles when they saw it -- drat! They knew instantly I was incorrectly creating my stitches just by looking at my work!  The good news is that Priscilla showed me what I was doing wrong.  I'm working on the "Garter stitch" and was doing it by shoving my Grandmother's knitting needle through the back of the loop and yarning under.  What I should have been doing is inserting the needle through the top of the loop (from left to right) and then yarning over. 

I wondered what the big deal was in following the "proper knitting technique" vs. my twisted version.  In examining Priscilla's fabric against mine, her stitches were open, more spread apart.  My stitches were twisted, having a more closed look.  They both suggested I try knitting in the proper technique but I stated that perhaps I should finish my project, a scarf for charity, in the same twisted fashion, for the sake of continuity.  Grace laughed and said, "Yeah, and you'll just keep reinforcing the incorrect way to do it."  (We all know how right she was in saying that!! LOL)

I set my knit project aside and finished crocheting the hat in the picture above.  We got to talking about new books fresh off the press.  Two caught my eye -- but not because of projects, but rather because I recognized images featured in both books! 

I set the book, "Hookorama: 25 Fabulous Things to crochet," by Rachale Mathews, side-by-side with the book, "Instant Expert Crochet," edited by Katy Bevan.  Was I seeing things?  No!  The "how to" images, including images of crochet hooks were identical!!  One book was published in London, the other here in the United States -- and each book gives credit to different photographers.  "Oh, no!" I started thinking, "how could this be?"  I asked Priscilla and Grace to have a look and they were in agreement with me - both books contained identical photographs for the "how to" sections of each book.

In reading further about the publisher, copyright and such, I noticed that they're from the same parent publisher: MQ Publications.  I'm sure they shared the "how to" photographs to save on costs.  I know patterns make "the rounds" from tear sheets, to leaflets, to magazines and to books, but I never gave thought to photographs doing the same.  To add more mystery to this discovery, my memory is telling me I may have recently seen another book using the exact same photos -- I'll have to keep my eye on this, no pun intended. 

Dee, is there a point to all this?  Well actually, yes there is.  Earlier this afternoon, while I had some time to kill, I decided to try the proper knitting technique Priscilla set me straight on.  At first I couldn't quite get it; I couldn't remember where I was to hold my yarn.  Was it in front of the needle? No.  Try again.  After a few rows of twisted-ness I figured it out.  I stitched a few rows properly and had a eureka moment!  My twisted stitches seemed to lock my tension; my proper stitches were free wheelin' -- much quicker & easier to create.  Maybe now my knitting won't be so slow after all!  {{wink wink}}
Tags: crochet, knit, coffee, proper, twisted, charity, photography