Some Living Required

One sock finished, one to go. And it is going and going and going . . . I am at the gusset.  The part of the sock that always seems to take the longest to knit.  Cuff down, toe up, it doesn’t matter.

The toe is small and with four stitches every other round, 20 becomes 24 becomes 28 very quickly. Or vice versa for cuff down.  The foot and the leg are such mindless knitting that you actually have to be careful to not knit too far.  The heel – only half the stitches – ’nuff said.

But the gusset is never ending shows the least amount of progress for every round knit.   I knit for an hour and discover that I still have many more rounds to go.  I knit another hour and discover that I still have many more rounds to go. 

So what part of a sock knits up the slowest for you?

My husband had a rare Saturday free from work.  So we spent the day at Frankenmuth, MI.  In the meantime, Caesar let me know he would protect my knitting while I was away. 

Sure . . . I trust him with my wool as much I’d let him guard a flock of chickens.

My husband is to all things fly-fishing as I am to all things wool.  So, when my husband excitedly showed me his latest find after a trip to the LFS (Local Fishing Store), I did my best to be excited too.  It’s the least I can do in return for his valiant attempts to understand my fiber obsession.  This time I didn’t have to feign interest for one moment.  Not all the flies looked like ugly water bugs.  In fact, some were even cute.  Please, don’t tell him I used the word cute.  I’m sure I shouldn’t use the word cute.  But I don’t have my thesaurus handy and the inch worm really is manly rugged tough cute.

He insisted that I should take pictures of the other treasures he brought home.  Okay, I insisted.  I was still caught up in the cuteness that was the inch worm. 

I’m not sure what critter this is supposed to represent. He told me, but I was too busy making sure I had captured it in the best light to pay attention. In my defense, Hubby can’t tell the difference between alpaca and wool. That makes it okay to not know, right?

What really struck me, though, was the way he looked while talking about them.  Some fantastic combination of serious, excited, happy, passionate, ecstatic, and giddy. Do we look like that when we talk about wool?  I hope so.

When I attend fiber festivals, I have a hard time resisting . . . roving.  Well, the yarn too, but roving?  I don’t spin.  I don’t want to.  However, I really want the roving.  I love the colors, the softness, and the endless possibilities of gauge, color, and twist.

When a friend offered to spin for me in return for my knitting, I didn’t think twice.   She will spin my roving for me and I will knit with her yarn.  My very own hand-spun without learning how to spin, buying a wheel, spinning the fiber, and another addiction taking over the house the work! 

A sample of what will be my yarn is the little skein on the left – alpaca, merino, and silk in a lace weight.  It apparently spins like butter.  I read somewhere that butter is a technical term for fun to spin.

Her yarn is made of wool-angora blend and spun in a fingering weight.  It is a pleasure to knit. The bunny hairs that escape the twist and provide a nice halo to the yarn are an endless source of fascination to me as well.  Now to start swatching for lace patterns to work into a shawl.

I did the only thing I could do with a sock that refused to commit to a gauge.  I sent a nearly-finished-still-on-the-needle sock to my dad. Who, to his credit, suspended his belief that it would be possible to wear such a thing. It is too wide in the arch, and a little short in the cuff.

My solution to the problem? I knit myself a pair of socks.

Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock yarn, color #180
Pattern: Woven Waves by me (available in June)
Needles: US2 Addi turbo, magic loop

Then I started over with his.

That is how I feel.  I can’t seem to keep a coherent thought or course of action for longer than 5 seconds minutes.  I have many things requiring focused attention at work, at home, with my business.  Yet, when I sit down at my computer, my mind quickly wanders to thoughts like…

• Ravelry always has between 5000 – 8000 invites waiting every day.  If it’s true that they send out 800 – 1000 invites daily, where are they new people coming from to keep the total from reaching zero? 
• When / if the total does reach zero will we finally know the total number of fiber lovers inhabiting the planet? 
• Why is it that in spite of the huge number of Ravelers already part of the site, that nearly half the yarns I look up for customers at the store cannot be found?
• Since Ravelry uses Fl*ickr to post images, what does Fl*ickr think of the numerous pictures posted of yarn, patterns, wips, and finished objects?  Is it possible that the fiber community could eventually take over Fl*ickr?
• I love Interweave Knits, but since subscribing to Knitting Daily, I wonder if I should cancel my subscription.  I subscribe to IK for the patterns mostly.  But Knitting Daily keeps offering the best ones for free.  Makes me wonder if I’m wasting my money, if I’m willing to be patient for Interweave to offer it free at a later date.
• I’m not a very patient person.  So the self-debate continues.
• Am I the only one who sees a patterned window pane of an old door and wishes I had paper and pen to sketch it.  Thinking that it would make a fabulous sweater / scarf / lace / cable / detail?
• I see potential knitted designs everywhere in very unknit like things.  I think it would be wonderful to have a group blog / flickr group that uses non-craft items to inspire creativity in their craft – knit, crochet, quilt, paint, etc..
• Then I worry that no one else would see the value in that kind of group and I would be the only member.
• Then I worry that such a group already exists and I am missing out.
• I would love to have a little calendar on my blog.  But I don’t want to mess around with the coding.
• I would love to change the look of my blog entirely.  But I don’t want to mess around with the coding.

See? I just can’t stop procrastinating stay focused.

My husband came home and saw the collection of items for this post.  He asked me “what is all this stuff?”  I answered that it was for my F post.  “I’m struggling to see how a seahorse and an esspresso cup equal F.” 

Some people have scrapbooks and photo albums.  I have “stuff”.  In my kitchen cupboards, on shelves, beside my clock radio there is “stuff”.  I don’t see a toy or a book, I see the person behind it.   The “stuff” that came to me by way of those that are important.  My friends. My family.