It’s Mac-ademic
Tuesday April 27th 2010, 10:51 pm
Filed under: "Wrapped in Comfort",Knit,Non-Knitting

I think it is safe to say I am not a computer person.  (Hey you Hydes, hush!) I have stuck to my nice safe Firefox PC.

But I have been pushed around lately by the fact that a) I’ve got the falcon cam on the big monitor attached to the husband’s Mac, because b) that site crashes my Firefox Ubuntu absolutely every time. Completely. Gone to lunch, ‘bye. (Which is why this year I haven’t posted the link. Don’t worry, that’s the link to the link.)

So tonight Richard was teaching me basic stuff on his machine, like how to open a new window and why it wasn’t working when I tried to. How to change the size of the window (so help me, that was designed by someone with sharper eyes than mine.)

It’s like knitting lace: it used to be, I didn’t know how, I didn’t (I told myself) particularly want to know how, but it bugged me that it was something I couldn’t do–but it was knitting!  I eventually tried to teach myself, but at the time there was just really nothing out there and certainly nothing that told exactly how one was supposed to, say, purl, much less knit, into a yarnover of the previous row and which way one was to wrap the yarn, much less that it changed depending on what came before and what after.

Now, of course, it’s all as automatic to me as breathing, you just sit down with the needles and go:  the Barbara Walker books from the last big knitting craze of the 70’s were finally reprinted, and I made myself slog through row after row with one eye on her first Treasury of Knitting Patterns directions and the other on the work in my hands.

A swatch. Then an afghan in a simple pattern, trying to drill it into my brain while learning to read my stitches, trying to learn not to panic and what to do if I dropped a stitch, how to put it all back together when it’s not simple knit and purl but with direction and–well, you know. One dropped stitch can unravel two or three below it and then that many more again each from there, and, yeah.

And then a second afghan.  Trying to practice at it enough for long enough to make it worth the time spent learning how.

And how!, now.

So eventually I put my own book out there that prefaced with the laceknitting directions, verbal but also pictorial, that were exactly what I’d gone looking for and could not find all those years ago.

I think it’s a pretty good book. (They’re almost gone.)

But I don’t think that means I’ll ever, ever write one on my new-found expertise on using a Mac.  Trust me on this one. Truly.


10 Comments so far
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We have a very nice and similar division of labor in my house – I do the knitting, and W does the computer support.

Comment by twinsetellen 04.28.10 @ 5:36 am

Thank you for this little page of history about “how Alison became a lace knitter”.

And thank you for being such a great supporter of those of us who actually blush when writting to you for advice and help.

Enjoy the new discoveries!

Comment by Suzanne in Montreal 04.28.10 @ 6:12 am

Oh Alison, you CAN do it. It’s even easier than knitting. From a self taught Mac guru.

Comment by Judy Foldi 04.28.10 @ 6:31 am

I think you have a co-writer in the house if ever you do get the urge though… just sayin’…

Comment by Channon 04.28.10 @ 7:35 am

for those of us who have used a PC forever, going MAC is like learning a foreign language — but I hear it’s a lot easier language and you’ll like it a lot — after all, it doesn’t get sick with a virus and do all that annoying crashing things —

ah, someday, when I’m rich I’d like to go there

(ok, it’ll never happen, but one can dream!)

Comment by Bev 04.28.10 @ 7:47 am

LOL!!! I’m all-Mac, all-the-time!!! If Apple suddenly disappeared I would just stop using a computer i guess, cause there will never be a WinBlows machine in my future! I converted my PC Honeyman (after he retired and wasn’t work-wedded to his PC.) He now enjoys trouble-free computing, but does grumble occasionally about how to do things. All of this means I am now the tech support person for Mac friends, and family! Believe me if Honeyman can do it anyone can.

Comment by Jayleen 04.28.10 @ 8:46 am

Well, well. You’ve hit a topic I can talk about. I taught Beginning Mac at Little House for a while, and I believe I am reasonably proficient in the things I do. There are lots of things I don’t know how to do. I’ll be pickled tink to show you anything I can. You enjoy knitting for others; I enjoy helping others on the Mac. One call or email is all it takes.

Humor –

The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway.

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Yogi Berra

Comment by Don Meyer 04.28.10 @ 10:47 am

You can do it! Imagine writing a Mac primer, using lace knitting as a metaphor 🙂

Comment by Jocelyn 04.28.10 @ 3:13 pm

I had to switch form Firefox to Google Chrome. All is well again :-}
I treasure my copy of your book, hon. It provides comfort in many many ways.
(and let me know if another book gets ready for pre-order, ok?)

Comment by Diana Troldahl 04.28.10 @ 4:39 pm

It’s tough getting yanked away from something that is so familiar!
I am about to activate a new cell phone…I wonder how long it will take me to figure out everything it does!

Comment by karin maag-tanchak 04.29.10 @ 5:40 pm



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