Stitchboard Admin message #31
Re: Tunisian gauge
October 5, 2013 at 5:05:07 PM
 
Sherry,

Thank you...LOL, finally glad to have figured out what was going wrong!  It was extremely frustrating.

I agree...for example, the Red Heart is much stiffer than the Simply Soft, and I'm sure the elasticity is totally different for both.

I can see how the sl st would be helpful for creating "bends"!  I find it's kind of fun to figure out ways of "sculpturing" stitches to do certain things.    Which is (MOL, sigh) easier to do with certain yarns. 

Oooh, so glad you'll be able to get the baby blanket finished today!    I'm putting aside the headband for the moment to make my furchild a Halloween costume.  It's rainy but very warm out today...on the bright side, no sun means it's still pretty comfy in the house (my favorite time of year...no need to run the heat or air!), so crocheting isn't a problem at the moment.

It's hard to get non-blurry pics without a tripod.    I suffer from the same problem.

If you get a nice contrast going, I bet it will be much easier to see what's going on!

Ugh, you know how I feel about that number classification!  There's really no way to properly classify a light worsted, short of creating sub-categories, such as 2.5 or something...but that would be messy and more trouble than it's worth.  I think the whole thing needs to be scrapped, honestly.  Or used as a supplemental classification.  I don't see what was wrong with the old system...seems pretty clear to me: fingering, sock, sport, light worsted, worsted, bulky/chunky, super bulky, etc.  Novelty yarns could be fit in there based on the number of stitches per inch using a certain size crochet hook/knitting needle to produce something comfortably close to the sizes already in use.  But forcing people to use this crazy classification system causes more headaches than it's worth...it was a nice idea to start with, but because it's so poorly designed, lumping too many different sized yarns together (and left up to the discretion of each manufacturer), there is little to no uniformity, and it all falls apart.  If there had been a stringent way of classifying into numbers, if there were more numbers, it would work.  But now it's really too late to start with new numbers.  We'd never know who used the new ones and who used the old ones. 

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Stitchboard Admin message #33
Re: Tunisian gauge
October 6, 2013 at 5:15:46 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #2)
 
Sherry,

I'm so glad you understand and feel the same way about the numerical classifications.  Like...did we really need them?  Weren't the old ones working perfectly well?!  I can understand if the old system had been a total mess and the new one improved on it, but that's the point...it's like taking the alphabet and deciding we need a new letter, so let's start spelling things differently to accommodate the new letter!  Because 26 of them just aren't enough...there's that funny sound that isn't represented!  (Ha ha, wouldn't that be funny...I should invent a new letter for the sound "pfft" or something.  )

Wha....?  I wasn't aware the TC terms needed standardizing in the first place...    Haven't they, like the old fiber system classification, been pretty standardized for years?!

Aha, that's it...$150 for "teacher certification," which I'm sure recommends the heavy usage of those "new" standardized terms! 

I'm with you...I was teaching people long ago.  I wasn't aware crochet was now considered a college-level course and had to be taught by someone with a certain number of hours of classroom certification required...eyeroll.

Current rant is over here for now, too...but reserving the right for us to re-rant any time! 

LOL, cats really are like children.  If they had opposable thumbs, we'd really be in trouble!    Of course, I have to hold whatever it is out to her, and then she attempts to partake.  LOL, sigh, learned that one very fast...duh, don't tempt a kitty!

Ironically, she usually cautiously sniffs things first, but with beadwork, for some reason she tries to bite first and ask questions later.  Since I don't want to incur a vet bill for pulling bits of broken glass out of her mouth, I no longer let her look at it...the knitted mini sock monkey, not as much of a problem...about the worst that would happen there is she might end up with a tiny pill of yarn in her mouth.  LOL, little troublemaker!

I hope your tripod is repairable?

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Stitchboard Admin message #35
Re: Tunisian gauge
October 7, 2013 at 6:37:29 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #4)
 
Sherry,

Hahahahahahaha!    Since we're both of the same mind, maybe we should just redo everything...the whole alphabet, all of the numbers...you know, to confuse people to the max!    (Though oddly enough...I mentioned the "pfft" sound...I remembered someone talking about the Icelandic language, and they said there's a sound that's sort of a "sniff," which is an actual part of the languge!  Isn't that amazing?!)

I've only occasionally seen the kitty get a claw caught on something...for a second.  The stitch pulls out of shape, and then her claw is free of it.    We have lots of crocheted/knit blankies for her, all over the place, so the fact that this isn't a common occurrence and I don't find a whole bunch of "hulls," as I think they're called, seems to speak to the fact that it's not really an issue.    She loves her blankies!  We have to have a lot of them, and to put new ones in place of the others when they go into the washer, because otherwise, she's very, very distressed about it.  It's as if she thinks we're taking it away from her.  (She does the same with her fountain.  We have to try to clean it when she's sleeping in the other room, or she'll plunk herself down where the fountain usually sits, as if to say, "Please don't take away my fountain...I'll be extra good!"  And since there's no way of explaining, sigh, we just have to deal with it.  She does the same when we wash her favorite bed...she gets all distressed, as if she believes we've taken it away from her, poor sweetheart! )

Oy, animals and itching!  I've seen successful treatment with sweater-y items and unsuccessful ones. 

This will be the first time I've ever made a sweater/costume-y thing for the little one, so there's no telling how good she'll be about it.  Holding my breath!  My husband gets the job of putting the costume on her.  This way, if she doesn't like it, he can be Frankenstein for Halloween.    Isn't that what husbands are for?

That TC book sounds singularly unhelpful.    I really dislike when a book is more confusing than it is helpful.  I generally then get discouraged and don't bother with it, or use it only when I want to work a particular stitch.

Ugh, there is no need to reinvent TC terms!  I'll never understand that.  While I suppose the idea is to make it more "original," I don't see why it can't be a simple reference with already-established terms.  There is plenty of room for reference materials.  If we get a million different "standards," though, that makes no sense.   Not liking!

Oh, no!  I hope the camera shop can fix that for you!  Though I'm guessing it's something they occasionally see.  Let me know how that turns out!

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Stitchboard Admin message #37
Re: Tunisian gauge
October 8, 2013 at 5:57:44 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #6)
 
Sherry,

I love that you have granddogs and grandcats!  <3  I have no kids (LOL, that I know of ), so I have a furdaughter, but will probably never have a grandcat or dog (unless we take in a rescue mama cat or dog someday, to have grandfurchildren that way!).

Furchildren are so sweet.    I'd love to have an entire house of them, but no room for now, not until we move.  Which is fine, because we have an "only kitty" who does not get along with other cats.  She is very social with us, though! 

LOL, you got it...if he can get her into her costume without getting killed, he's said he's definitely going to take pictures!  So hopefully, that will be kitty pictures and not Frankenstein pictures! 

Unfortunately, though I do think pets are quite intelligent, they really have no means of identifying with "cleaning" things.  They know what their own baths are (and the baths with which we may torture them, because we're so mean!), but they can't relate to putting blankies and beds into the washer.    It creates so much stress for them, sadly.  I'm sorry to hear your little sweetie suffers from the same stress.  Does she tend to sit in the exact spot where the original item was?  Our girl does this every time.  She will always ferret out exactly what is missing and plunk herself there.

She has a little "house" (cardboard) and we put a towel in it...we have to quickly change the towel whenever we wash it, otherwise she starts to think she's done something wrong, because her towel is no longer in her house.

The origin of her "house" is so cute.  My husband was making a "house" out of a box for an outdoor cat, and he made the mistake of doing this while he was inside, so as soon as his little daughter saw it, of course she knew it was for her!

He had to go outside and make another one, where she couldn't see!

How cool that you make special dog food!    We've thought of making cat food, but for now will have to stick with the store stuff, as our schedules are too wonky.  It's kind of expensive, but we've found some decent brands that she really, really likes, at least.

LOL, I hope the dog doesn't mind when your husband hijacks some of her food!    One time, my husband pretended he was going to eat some of the cat's food.  She was willing to let him, but she let out a very plaintive meow, as if to say, "Could I have some of that?"  When he saw her do that, he immediately stopped so she wouldn't feel like he was really going to eat her food.

That book sounds so confusing.    When I encounter something like that, I either save it for reference only, or, if it's a pattern or something I need quite often, I rewrite it in my own terms.  I'm doing that now with a pattern chart that I found.  It's in another language (Dutch, IIRC) and I don't normally work from charts, so I'm trying to write it out as it would be worked without a chart.  It's a gorgeous pattern, though, and I'm definitely thinking of making it as soon as I can!  I decided to learn charted crochet (and also knitting), as I feel I'm behind the rest of the world.  When I learned to knit and crochet, I don't think there were charts, at least there weren't according to the reference materials I learned from! 

Could you perhaps rewrite the various stitches that you know you'll use, photographing when necessary?  Maybe make your own reference?

Oooh, good news...I got my regular H hook for the kitty's costume, and because I have two size H hooks (one afghan hook), once done with the costume, I can go on to work your tutorial!  I've been so excited about trying that since you posted it! 

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Stitchboard Admin message #39
Re: Tunisian gauge
October 9, 2013 at 4:10:45 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #8)
 
Sherry,

So glad you like the story about our girl's "house"!    She was so adorable.  How could we say no and take it away?!

Yes, that's exactly what our furdaughter does, too!  She'll either sit or lay in the spot where the missing item was, and will refuse to budge until the missing item is returned (haven't tried to find out what will happen if it's not returned at all...we really don't want to know!).

I totally understand about moving your furbaby's nest.  Poor girl...how could she understand?  I hope she adjusted in a fairly short period of time?

Aha, a daddy's girl!    Just like ours!  Unfortunately, though, our sweetie had some intestinal problems for a while.    Poor girl...it was awful.  She kept pooping in the wrong spots...and it just seemed like she couldn't help it.  And she was so distressed!

Now she's much better...and she no longer gets "people food."  Instead, she sits and stares when we eat something that smells good.  We get the stink eye!    Her daddy wants to indulge her more than I do...I am the mean old mommy who would rarely give her anything before...so though I get the stink eye from time to time, I don't quite get it as often as my husband does!  Membership has its privileges!  

BTW, candy corn costume is finished...now I'm working on a little hat to go with it.  I got the pattern here:
http://diymaven.com/2009/09/09/crochet-a-candy-corn-pet-sweater/

Is that the cutest, or what?!  I squeeeeeeed as soon as I saw it!

Just tried the hat on her...got her all worked up, unfortunately...she thought it was a toy!    Argh, didn't want to do that...merely wanted to see if it was big enough!  (Needs another round, I think.)

I guess diagrams have been around a while, then...who knew?  They were never mentioned in the reference materials I had when I learned crochet.  I used a weekly magazine called "Stitch by Stitch" (later republished as a series of books)...it was published over something like 98 weeks, with new lessons every week.  (Such memories from that magazine!  I was so angry to lose them.  It wasn't even the content, because I was able to replace almost all of it with the book series...lousy used book seller way overcharged me and there was no index included...but it was the memories themselves of getting the magazines that still hurts to this day.    I worked in Grand Central Terminal at the time, and a lovely elderly woman named Anita, who worked at a certain newsstand, used to set aside a copy of the magazine for me faithfully every week.  Having those magazines she personally set aside for me can never be replaced. )

Anyway, Stitch by Stitch taught how to crochet, knit, sew, etc, along with how to read crocheting and knitting pattern abbreviations...but the one thing it sadly did not mention was anything about charts.  So I never knew about them, and until you mentioned that about your mother, I had no idea that charts existed back years ago.  Unless I just forgot seeing them, which is possible. 

I've heard people talk about how much "easier" it is for them to follow diagrams...honestly, I don't get it.  I don't think they're easier...at least, not for me.  The one chart I'm looking at just seems so much more complex than simple instructions like, "Ch 5, 2 dc," etc.

Though I'm still planning on learning.  Because I am a technique/learning junkie, after all!  This may not be a "technique" per se, but it's something I haven't mastered...so I must!

I hope that idea of translating the instructions is helpful to you!    I've done this many times...frankly, some references seem to be designed to make me crazy...LOL, make that crazier!    It's so much easier to redo some of it in a sensible way than to try to keep working from it, to "decode" it all every time, which is so frustrating, because I can never remember what I did from the previous time. 

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Stitchboard Admin message #41
Re: Tunisian gauge
October 10, 2013 at 6:20:48 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #10)
 
Sherry,

Isn't that costume adorable?!  I still can't get over how much I love it!

Aha, so you're a "mean mommy," too!    Though to be fair, my husband does a lot of the things I know I'd never get away with doing.  He can pull on her ears and look in them.  She purrs right through it!  He can pick at knots in her fur.  She loves it.  It's "grooming" to her!

Even better...she's so sweet that when he does things she doesn't like (when she had an intestinal infection, he gave her meds), she still forgives him right after.  He had to give her liquid meds...ugh, what a terrible thing for her!    But she was so loving, she was right back in his lap almost immediately after!  <3  Don't get me wrong...she hated those meds...but she loves her daddy more than she hated the meds!

It's so awful to have to do things to furchildren that you know they can't understand and that must be done (like liquid meds), isn't it?! 

Oh, very true about people not liking to read these days...I'd never thought of that!  I just find it so much easier to read things written out than to follow a diagram.  Even when I do beading, I much prefer written instructions, when possible, to a diagram.

I'm sure you could master the diagrams...LOL, despite my reluctance, I'm guessing I can, too...and ultimately will, just to know how.  But I won't like it! 

I really was so hurt when I lost those magazines.    It was just so special, because that lovely, lovely woman set them aside specially each week.  She didn't have to, but she knew I wanted them and really cared that I got them!

It's hard to develop a pattern and document it at the same time!  It kind of takes away a bit of the fun, don't you think?  I discovered that when I was writing a tutorial for a game I enjoyed.  Totally ruined the game for me.  I got maybe about 3-4 levels in, decided, "this sucks," and abandoned both the tutorial and the game.    (It didn't hurt that I found a free already-written tutorial, either.)

Still, though, I'm determined to at least write down my patterns so they don't get lost.  Otherwise, if everyone neglected to do that, oh, noes!, nobody would ever make any patterns!  

Couldn't have that!  (She says, as she writes up her free pattern for that candy corn hat...once those pesky ties are conquered!) 

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Stitchboard Admin message #43
Re: Tunisian gauge
October 11, 2013 at 7:43:16 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #12)
 
Sherry,

Those liquid meds...uuuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh, I have nothing nice to say about them.    Chicken flavored...really?!  Guaranteed, it tastes nothing like chicken or any kind of poultry (or fish) known to man (or perhaps cat)!  Our furdaughter isn't dumb.  She can tell the difference.  It's like that bogus chicken flavor in the (liquid, of course) hairball meds the vet's office initially sold us.  Yeah, she wouldn't touch that after the initial taste.  Not even when we hid it in some fake maple syrup, which is something she loves.  Not with that awful stuff in it!

Our girl is not fooled by any of it.  And she didn't take the liquid meds willingly when she had her intestinal problems.  She fought it all the way.

BTW, on the pills (and I swear I don't have any association with this company!), have you tried these?
http://www.greenies.com/dogs.aspx#/products/dog-pill-pockets

We swear by the feline version.  Our sweetie loves them!  She gobbles them down with no arguments.  When we give her heartworm treatments (ugh, expensive "treats" at $5-something apiece!), she will no longer eat the treats.  She used to...but suddenly, she decided she didn't like them.  So we put the last few into pill pockets...at least then she ate them!

That's wonderful to hand down your crochet patterns!    I think it's even better than handing down recipes.  Food is ephemeral...you can hand down the recipe but not the actual item.  Crochet patterns are handed down, and they result in actual items that can also be handed down...ingenious! 

I was thinking of blogging about it...also was thinking of putting the actual pattern in the mall, perhaps.    Maybe both...hmm...have to think about that!  Would you like to test it?    I won't hold my breath that your sweetie would wear it, of course...sigh.

I'd love to see software like that, too, and what a great idea about having it go along as you go along!    When hubby has some time, I'll see if he can follow along enough to say if it's possible.  I'm guessing it certainly is...though am guessing it would be a difficult thing to figure out because of how patterns are so dimensional. 

It makes me wish I could program.  I used to be able to, but that was a long time ago, the Web has completely changed, and so has software...the languages I knew then are mostly obsolete...and the only one left is such an outdated version...if I could even remember any of it. 

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Stitchboard Admin message #45
Re: Tunisian gauge
October 12, 2013 at 3:38:45 PM  (in response to BetwixtTheStitch message #14)
 
Sherry,

IIRC, Pill Pockets are available at Petsmart.  Not positive, but I think I've seen them there.  We get them cheapest of all from the vet's office.  Or at a certain hardware store (unfortunately, that one isn't in TX ) when there's a sale, which isn't often.  The hardware store sale price is only comparable to the vet's office price, and it only helps when the vet's office is closed (Sundays, Saturday afternoons and most weeknights) or when we just don't feel like shlepping out that way.  The hardware store is (obviously) closer.  Though it's cheaper at the hardware store not on sale than at another vet's office that's closer...they're about twice the price of our vet's office!    So better to go to the hardware store in a pinch, even though it's farther away.  And their hours are better, anyway.  They also open up pretty early in the morning, too, IIRC.

Oooh, I'd love it if one of your grandfurbabies would wear the hat!    It's just so cute!  Thanks...I'm so glad you'll test it! 

There probably aren't many programs out there.    I'm guessing most programmers don't crochet and most crocheters don't program. 

Exactly...programming isn't my cup of tea, either!  At least with crochet, knitting, beading, etc, I can see what I'm doing wrong, instead of working blindly and then testing it when done.  Not for me!

LOL, well, hmm, it is technically possible to get stuck in a loop...or a knot! 

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