Is the Glass Half-Crazy or Half-Sane?

So, I totally finished the Perfect Socks.

Stats:
Pattern: Father and Son Socks, Fall ‘06 IK
Yarn: Opal Hand Painted
Needles: U.S. Size 1, dpns
Mods: Very few, explained below

I like this pattern. It is extremely simple and easy to memorize, but more interesting than plain stockinette. I like that it forms a simple, angular pattern without a lot of work or fuss. I especially like it for the men in my life, since they do not want lacy, pretty socks. They want strong, manly socks. This is good.

The pattern itself is pretty straight forward and mostly well written. HOWEVER. Ahem. However, there is one little bit of pattern writing that really should be cut out, pasted to the editor or pattern writer’s forehead, enclosed in a square of black marker that says: THIS IS NOT CLEAR. THIS IS JACKASS PATTERN WRITING. After you’ve completed the pattern repeats that make up the leg of the sock there is a section of the pattern that says: "In preparation for working the heel flap, work rows [blank] through [blank] on needles 1 and 2. Continue working in pattern on needles 3 and 4." Okay, so what do you all think this means? I figured out (after scratching my head a couple of times and thinking about it a little too hard if you know what I mean) that you work rows [blank] through [blank] before you start the heel flap.

Now, I know that, in terms of bad pattern writing, this is most definitely not the most egregious bit of obfuscation that I have ever come across, so you might think that I’m being a little too hard on the pattern writer (or perhaps her editor) here. You may be right. But, seriously, why would you bother to say something that simple in such a confusing way other than to make the knitter stop, scratch her head, and go What the Fuck? And really, I don’t think that there is really a good reason for that.

Other than that I found the pattern to be clear, the chart to be impeccable and the end product both usable and nice, in a very classic kind of way. I did modify the pattern: I substituted yarn, I used Size 1 instead of Size 2 needles, and I lopped a half an inch of length off of the toe of the sock. I achieved that by leaving out the extra rows that you’re supposed to work before working the toe decreases. I finished up my eighth Chevron pattern (btw, when the pattern says "eighth chevron pattern" what it means is the eighth time that you finish the pointy end of the chevron pattern, not the eight time that you finish all the rows in the little red box on the chart) and jumped right into the decreasing rows. It worked like a charm.

Oh, right, on the title of this post. I was reading Crazy Aunt Purl today (I. Love. Her.) and she mentioned how sometimes she simply likes to sit with her loneliness. Not pushing it away, but not wallowing in it either. Right now, that is my goal. To sit with my pain, my anxiety, my fear. To feel it but not wallow in it.