In Which the Pirate Likes Many Things.
I have really missed knitting on a sock that I like. I like the yarn, I like my size 1 needles, I like knitting stockinette in the round, I like the stripes, I like everything related to this sock. I like that I know at exactly what point in the striping sequence I cast on for the cuff and when I started the heel, so that I’ll be able to make the second sock perfectly match the first. Pirate-Husband tells me that I am working some kind of awesome magic to make striped socks line up, and I’m not going to disabuse him of the notion.
While I did get the ribbing done before departing for New York, I like that I knit the entire rest of the sock leg while chatting with my maternal grandmother about her early dates with my grandpa to jazz clubs in Manhattan. It sounds so romantic! She told me that she ordered a “claret lemonade” and now I’d like to try one, just to see what it tastes like. I looked up the recipe: four ounces of bordeaux, one ounce of simple syrup, and 3/4 ounce lemon juice. Hmmm. Could be interesting!
Last night I knit the heel flap and perhaps on my lunch break today I’ll turn the heel. I like that I’m gentle enough with myself to recognize when I’ve sworn to something that isn’t working for me, and to change it – in this case to let myself cast on for an enjoyable sock, even though I haven’t finished previous projects. It’s all good.
I like that the baby for whom I’m crocheting the hexagon blanket was born yesterday. Both mother and child are doing well. (And now I really must get back to finishing up that blanket!)
I also really enjoy knitting simple socks. I’m making some very simple socks at the moment, a BIT more work than usual as they are a lot bigger than any sock I have knit before and I’m doing the whole leg in ribbing, but I really just enjoy being able to knit without worrying about patterns and the like and on small, comfortable needles :)
Your socks look like they are going to be marvellous!
I thought about making these into ribbed socks, and my next simple pair probably will be a pair of Cakewalks for myself – but the jacquard stripes in this yarn would have been muddled up in the ribbing. And stockinette does go so much faster. :)
Way back when I started knitting, I never imagined that sock yarn and tiny needles would be more comfortable to work with than worsted weight and size eights!
It is stressful to not have the project done when the baby is born! I hope you can get it done without too much worry.
The sock looks great. You’ll have all those fun memories of your grandmother’s knit into those socks. That’s really special.
I think that the memories are the best thing about knitting. I have the socks I knit while waiting for the nieceling to be born, the yarn I bought on vacation to such-and-such city, the pattern draft I came up with on the train that time, and dozens of great conversational memories knit into so many things. It makes the socks so much more than “just socks” to me. :)