...and don't name your child after someone you want to sleep with.

I learned to knit on Friday night (well, the two basic stitches: knit and purl). I and the teacher were also figuring out some aphorisms to live by -- see title of post. I was plenty ambivalent about actually getting into the knitting thing, but since then I've done a suspicious amount of fondling and looking at the small maroon rectangle I made. This seems like something where a little knowledge can go a long way. I was fascinated to learn that everything advertised as "knitwear" actually is knitted -- it's the exact same stitches someone would hand-knit, except done really really tiny with thread. I suppose everyone but me figured that one out a long time ago. Between that and some old sweaters an ex hand-knitted for heisenbug a long time ago, it's amazing how many examples of knitting can be found in our house.

Anyway, I was continuing to mull over this today, and thinking about how cables and ribbing work -- basically, they work because knit stitches migrate in front of purl stitches. That means a column of knits will stand out over a field of purls, and make a rib shape, and then you can just cross them over each other if you want twisty cables. It also means knit stitches are basically PIXELS. Stretchy pixels. Oho! I think if I had this book on aran patterns and this book on cabling and 20 years to practice, I could take the world by storm.

This was going to be longer, but I'm going to meet Chia at the bookstore and talk knitting books now.