What is the sound of one heel turning? The Prince of Gauge loves to turn heels – using any method he hasn’t tried previously – and his knitting basket is full of turned heels attached to no socks at all. He tries all the new cast-ons and bind-offs, too, and has stacks of swatches featuring every labyrinthine cable committed to paper. He likes the hard stuff. He likes to master it. Klein bottles, “illusion” knitting, Fibonacci sequences and the Golden Ratio are all worthy knitting pursuits to the Prince of Gauge. He seems disinterested in – and in fact a little disdainful of – fellow knitters’ plebeian concerns for color, “hand”, and this silly fishwifey need to actually finish stuff.
For the Prince of Gauge, knitting is a critical pursuit, sometimes divorced from issues of sensitivity and aesthetics. In group situations, he’s not very patient with beginners or with anyone who is stumped and frazzled by a set of instructions. This is a double-edged sword, because the Prince of Gauge has often mastered difficult techniques, and his know-how is useful and helpful to others.
If you can get past his caustic nature, the Prince of Gauge may be able to teach you something worth learning. Unless you can really wow him, he’ll not be very concerned with having you return the favor.