Geeky knitter’s upgrade

September 18, 2008 at 4:23 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: chart reading, lace, Secret of the Stole-iii

There have been some changes made since I posted Victory over Lace Knitting 101.  Then, I was using a large cookie sheet propped on my music stand. My two-year-old grandson was staying with us after Hurricane Gustov while his parents waited for the return of electricity to their apartment.  He came strolling into my studio, and with great puzzlement pointed and said “Pan?”

That started my quest for a better solution.  Someone had posted on Secret of the Stole III that they used a magnetic dry-erase board.  I couldn’t resist cruising through office supplies when I made groceries at Wal-Mart.  There was nothing large enough for an extended shawl chart.  Today DH humored me with a stop at Office Depot.  They had this beauty, 24″ x 18″.

I also bought a roll of 1″ wide, sticky-backed magnetic tape because that was what I could get for long magnets.  I wasn’t really sure I wanted that, but it was only $4.99, so how wrong could I be.  When I got home, I cut a 10″ length, then divided it to 1/2″ wide strips. Inspiration arrived, and I stuck the strips down on a stained-glass scrap of fabric.  I used my rolling cutter to trim the fabric to the magnet, then slathered each edge with Fray-check to prevent raveling.

All in all, I’m very pleased with myself.  The dry-erase board is pretty light, so there is no problem with such a large board resting on the music rack.  I was going to say that I’ll never use the dry-erase function, but you know—you could write in big red letters “Remember to K the first and last 3 stitches of each purl row” or whatever caution you need.