Saved

Last night I knitted the heel again. Fail. Again. Four freekin' times. Obsessed much? Stubborn?

I finally decided to find the author of Socks From the Toe Up on Ravelry. I tracked her to her website and emailed her. I was just that obsessed, and stubborn, and lost.


She emailed me back (thanks, Wendy). And she explained the part of the pattern I was getting wrong, in a different way (I was one of those kids in math class, too).


For those of you who are knitters, maybe you will see it my way, and maybe you will see it the right way. (By the way, thanks Kelly, for trying to think it through with me. I know if we were in the same room looking at it we could have figured it out.)

Here's where I went wrong:
*sl1, k1; repeat from * 16 times.


I did "sl1, k1" 18 times. Because the 16 times didn't count the first one did it? Well, it did. It was supposed to. And when Wendy told me that I should have 14 stitches on both sides of the heel, and 33 on the flap, I placed the 14 on each side on separate needles so I could keep them apart from the heel flap. Then I could visualize what I was doing.


Now I have a perfect heel. Or at least I did it right.


Because I was doing "it" 18 17 times instead of 16, I was essentially going though the stitches on the left side of the flap way before I used up the ones on the right.


I will never make that mistake again. Whew.

In other news, my son Joshua now has had his debit card number stolen. We are quite a target these days. The culprit drained his checking account. Fortunately when we set up his checking account, we put a stop in place that prevents all debit activity when the account has a zero balance--card declined. Otherwise the culprit would have gone through all of his overdraft protection. As it is, he will now have to go through resolution to get his money back, since it was actually money in his account and not credit. Fortunately the bank caught it before Josh did.


Unlike the thief who used our American Express card (which, btw, Am Ex did come through and covered all the theft), we think Joshua's thief used a blank Master Card and loaded the stolen number. He used it at a local Speedway and a local Meijer grocery store to the tune of $195. You would need an actual card at those locations, as opposed to the thief using our Am Ex number who just used the number at retailers who were "in on it."  We think someone at a fast food restaurant must have skimmed Josh's number on a cell phone, and that may be how Doug's was stolen, too. We now know to be extremely vigilant whenever we use our credit cards and make certain we can see the person who is swiping it to make sure they don't swipe it on a skimmer while they have it. Best policy? Use cash.


I'm off to switch the laundry and sew on a baby quilt. I'm avoiding planning school today. Tomorrow's another day, right?