I started a new knitting project yesterday that involves following a rather involved chart of stitches. Unlike many of the patterns I usually use which have an eight to ten stitch repeat, this one has a repeat of 38 stitches, half of the stitches around the leg of the sock.
To make it easier to follow the chart, I started by coloring alternate lines with colored pencils. This allows me to follow the line more easily as long as I remember what color line I’m on. This works well as long as I have few distractions.
Today I decided to make a copy of the chart so that I can use my old magnetic board leftover from my counted cross stitching days. The addition of the long magnet bar makes tracking along the chart much easier. Twenty years ago if I’d wanted to make a copy, I would have grabbed a piece of graph paper and painstakingly copied the chart cell by cell. This morning, with my Epson printer it took a matter of minutes.
I know you’re probably thinking; “thanks for sharing.” But what I find so amazing about this entire process is that I am able to make a color copy of a chart in my own home in less than a minute, snap a photo of it with my iPad and upload it to this website in about the same amount of time. I am amazed because I am old.
I’m not old in the sense that I have reached the point of not wanting to keep up with the every changing technology of our modern lives. But there is no denying that at the beginning of my lifetime, which was at that time considered “modern” as well, life was much more mechanically understandable. The technology of the time was based on simple physical laws. Probably the big three things I didn’t fully understand as a child were electricity (Where did that power come from and how did it make things go?), the telephone (How did sound carry over wires?), and television (How was a picture carried through the air to the antenna on the roof and into that box in the living room?) For the most part, everything else in the house was mechanical and when anything needed fixing, my dad made the repairs and I was among the peanut gallery watching him. So, early on I had a basic understanding of household plumbing, wiring and construction. This experience has served me well through the years, especially when Dave was deployed for months at a time.
Today, while I am able to use all of these modern conveniences; iPhones, iPads, computers, printers, scanners, wifi and the internet, I readily admit that I don’t really have a clue how they all work. How does the key I press on my keyboard produce a letter on this screen and once I hit Publish, what will actually happen to allow it to appear on your screen? I am in awe of the enormity of it and those who do understand what makes it work.
I may be old, but I believe I am growing in the wisdom that it just isn’t that important that I understand how these things work. And, as long as I am able to learn how to use whatever new gadget comes along, that will be good enough for me.
