nothing funnier to me than when AI does math wrong. like I get why it happens, it’s a language model that’s treating the numbers you feed it as words rather than integers and then giving you an answer based on how those words typically appear in a block of text instead of actually performing a calculation. but the one thing computers are genuinely incredible at. you fucked up a perfectly good calculator is what you did, look at it it’s got hallucinations
Oh man I can’t believe I forgot. You know that post that was like “tell me what clothes you’ve bought because of a character” or whatever. I searched for ages to find an adequate white cable knit sweater because of Ransom’s in knives out.
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It’s a good sweater
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I’m putting this here bc I feel like it’s information everyone needs. You can find it here.
I don’t knit but that’s hilarious because this looks like such a complicated pattern for a beginner
I do knit! It is absolutely a complicated pattern for a beginner!
Full disclaimer: While I absolutely love cables? I hate actually knitting them. I find it so tedious having to pause my regular flow to juggle a cable needle with the knitting needles.
From that photo it looks like there’s 4, maybe 5 different kinds of cables? And most of them have 3+ ropes (? I don’t actually know what you call them), and it can be tricky enough as a beginner just working a 2-rope cable that only ever twists in one direction. Nevermind one with 4-6 that are constantly crisscrossing back and forth.
For reference, this DNA scarf was my very first cable project, probably my second or third time knitting at all. It’s just two ropes that only cross every 4 inches or so, but I still occasionally crossed them in the wrong direction. Which, to be clear, you’re not going to knitting jail just for messing up which way a cable twists, just to point out that even really simple cables can be easy to mess up as a beginner, LOTS of cables, some of which are pretty complicated!
Second is the abbreviations. Knitting uses a lot of them to keep instructions brief. For example that classic mantra “knit 1, purl 2” would be written “K1, P2”.
Well, if you really want to get technical, an actual row instruction would be written:
(K1, P2) repeat to end of row.
Why the brackets? They’re a bit like an algebra equation. They tell you that everything inside the brackets is a repeating stitch pattern, and then after the brackets you’re told how many times to repeat the pattern.
There’s a lot to remember! And while it’s standard practice to include a key for abbreviations, it certainly slows you down if you have to keep checking the key for what a particular abbreviation means. Some patterns will also have instructions on how to do specific stitches/techniques under the key and it can also slow you down to have to check the instructions every time; or look up a tutorial if there aren’t instructions or if you can’t parse the written instructions.
Here’s a sample of a row from this pattern, just to give you a random example of how complicated the instructions for something like this is going to look:
Can I read that? Sure. But I’ve also been knitting for, like, 14 years.
Third, a lot of pattern makers like to use charts when patterning complicated motifs like these kinds of cables, and also lace. A chart is pretty much what it sounds like, it’s a visual version of the pattern — each stitch is represented by a block, and each block has a symbol in it (or no symbol) to indicate the technique to use on each stitch. You can absolutely write out the instructions as text, and there are pattern makers out there who’ll include written instructions as well as a chart so you can use whichever instructions work best for you. But my experience has been that, more often than not, a cable (or lace) knitting pattern is going to use a chart rather than written instructions. That is the case for this pattern. Which means that the instructions on the rows where you’re knitting the front of the sweater say things like, “work row 2 of Chart C over stitches 45-50.”
Some people prefer to work with charts, I’m not one of them, I will always prefer text. But even if you eventually come to love working with charts, as a beginner it can be tricky. Partially because of what I mentioned about the key and having to switch between the written pattern and the chart(s). Partially because of trying to remember what symbols mean what (though admittedly the symbol key is, generally, next to the chart). And partially because knitting charts are, for the most part, meant to be followed from right to left, bottom to top. Because that’s how you knit. For the most part. Sometimes you knit from the top down, depending on the pattern, but you’re always going right to left.
But yeah, generally there’s just a lot to keep track of with this pattern! Nevermind having to acquire and learn how to use a cable needle and juggling that. And the pattern does indicate that it’s an intermediate pattern.
But honestly? My experience is that it is extremely normal to try to make something wildly over your skill set for your first project(s) when you’re learning to knit. I mean, you probably wouldn’t be learning if you hadn’t seen something really interesting and special that inspired you to try to make it for yourself, right?
Also, I hope most people will be pleased to find out that there is a thriving culture of recreating knitted pieces from any and all piece of media you can think of, no matter how mundane the piece may seem.
My absolute favorite is this pattern for Mary’s hat in the 1993 movie adaptation of “The Secret Garden”.
I had coveted that hat for thirty years and I’ve made at least three versions of it.
Do you think people who are virgin should write smut? I feel like most of them don’t even know what they’re writing and just write what they think sex is
the implication this ask suggests that people who write about murders, cannibalism, politics, magic, royalty au, sci-fi, wars, supernatural, time travel, medieval era, werewolves, vampires, mermaids or goblins must be murderers, cannibals, presidents, wizards, royalties, astronauts, ghost hunters, soldiers, time travelers, knights, werewolves, vampires, mermaids or goblins in real life is so funny to me
…And to Ursula Le Guin as well, it looks like.
As for “Write what you know,” I was regularly told this as a beginner. I think it’s a very good rule and have always obeyed it. I write about imaginary countries, alien societies on other planets, dragons, wizards, the Napa Valley in 22002. I know these things. I know them better than anybody else possibly could, so it’s my duty to testify about them. I got my knowledge of them, as I got whatever knowledge I have of the hearts and minds of human beings, through imagination working on observation. Like any other novelist. All this rule needs is a good definition of “know.”
So there you have it.
…And me? I know about wizards, too. And about the Powers that Be. And about worlds where relationship comes in some unusual shapes. I know about adventure. And starships. And found family. And swordsmanship. And sex. And making love. And being young. And being centuries or millennia old. (Sometimes both at once… like the sex and the making love.) And about taking good care of other people’s universes, when I wind up on their turf.
(shrug) So find out what you know. Take as much time as you need. Then write about it… because, trust me, no one else can do it the way you will.
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