Do Not Be Deceived

This is not your typical clicker-type counter.  It looks quite innocent, doesn't it, all pink and pretty?  Oh no.  This counter will drive you nuts.  And to think that I searched long and hard for a non-red clicker counter.  When I finally found a pink counter, I was ecstatic.  It was nothing but a demon in disguise.  Now why should finding a non-red counter be such a difficult task, you may wonder?  I have questioned myself many times over that.  I used to wonder why there was only one brand of ball winder, made in Japan.    I still can't figure it out.  Finally, after many years, we have the option of quite fancy wooden yarn winders, with smooth gears and the capability of winding large balls of yarn.  But a non-red counter?  That is too hard of a task, plus, I guess there is not much profit to be made from other colors.  I already have three counters, all in red, for various projects on the needles.  I won't go into how many projects I have on the needles.  Anyway, it's not just that I need another counter in a different color so I won't get it mixed up with a current project, it's that I am a very visual person, and I need different colors in my life.  The mini green counter which you can wear around your neck will not do.  Too small.

This pink counter randomly adds numbers to the counter when clicked.  It has a mind of it's own.  It took me a few months to figure out the problem.  All this time, I was blaming my mix ups on my youngest son, who loves to rummage through my knitting basket and add numbers to the red counters to drive me nuts.  The pink counter locks, yet it would still be off count on occasion.  Finally, I watched the numbers turn over as I clicked.  It would add two rows when it felt like it.  There was no rhyme or reason, or so I thought.  When I finish a row, I grab the counter, and CLICK it!  It gives me a sense of accomplishment to click that counter.  Wow.  I finished a row.  I know it's a small thing, but subconsciously, it gives me pleasure.  It is way too much trouble to tick off rows with a pencil and paper, or even turn the wheel on the side manually.  I want to click.  I paid for the enjoyment of clicking.

As I was working on my ZigBag Z this weekend, (yes, I cast on!), I noticed I was way off count.  Terribly so.  I watched the counter as I vigorously CLICKED it.  Sometimes, but not always, it would add two numbers.  I then had a flash of brilliance, and clicked it slowly.  Viola!  The correct numbers.  I clicked it slowly after the next row.  It added two numbers again!  Arrggh! 

If anyone would like to join me in a pink counter smashing party, let me know. 

Comments

[Minnie~Knits]

Pardon my shouting, but: THAT IS CRAZY!

It is a counting MACHINE! It is DESIGNED to count!
What a crazy world we live in...

If it makes you feel any better, my red counter works just fine, but I can never truly TRUST the numbers on it. Due to the fact that simply clicking, after each row, is too complicated for my little brain.

[AmyQOY]

There is a green one that hangs on a string made by the same people who make the red one. (Clover?) I use them for pitch count at baseball. I have found I do better to count stitches on my knitting because I always forget to click.

[Marie]

Well, it IS cute and I've never seen one like that before (or any non-red counters like that). But I'm glad you figured out what it was doing and know that you weren't smoking crack when your knitting was off.

Most of mine are the little red Susan Bates ones that you slip on the needles. I wish those came in a variety of colors too, cuz sometimes you need more than one counter for a project to keep track of where you are. For my mom's vest, I've got two of these little red things on the needles, and I have to remember to look at them right-side-up and remember that the one on the left is for A and the one on the right is for B. It would be so much simpler if I could just have them visually color coded.