Texas one step

Well, this is my traveling to Texas and back sock. Have to say I don't love it--love the pattern (Simply lovely lace socks from the latest Interweave Knits), like the yarn (Kroy sock) but don't think the combo is A+.....but I love knitting while traveling; I especially love knitting socks on dpns while traveling--it is such a conversation starter! I am usually pretty solitary when I'm traveling; listening to my IPod (this time the latest "cast on" podcasts-love them) and just knitting away, but this ast trip was full of flight delays and frustration, and when a woman sat down next to me and pulled out her crocheting, I knew it was time to talk. Airports are really the strangest combination of people rushing like mad and people killing time--a real slice of life really. Like most people, I rarely have time to kill, but sitting in an airport on a plane, IS one of those times. Knitting helps me feel productive, helps me feel connected and lessen the pain of being away from home, helps calm my nerves. And on the plane, it gives me a sense of creation in control when I have put my own fate in a creation of steel and the control of a pilot. It is good that I can knit. I keep coming back to that, these last few years when I took up knitting again and have learned and done so much. It is good, it is hopeful, it is true. And I'm, grateful I can do it--to Texas and back, and when I finally get back home. And now, to knit another!

Sockapalooozoops!

Well, I have a sock finished. It's lovely, I think, and very soft and warm and fuzzy. There is just one problem, but it's a killer: the ankle of the sock, knitted in the kid merino in the old shale lace pattern, has NO stretch to it--it will NOT go over my heel--even unrolled, even stretching beyond what's reasonable, even praying to the knitting gods, even when cursing under my breath.....my sock pal has about the same size feet as mine, so I think they (well, at this point, still it) will not fit her (well, they might, after she has used a shoe horn to stuff her heel through the ankle, but that hardly seems the most hospitable sock to offer someone! What I don't know is if this problem is because of the yarn, or the lace pattern, or the tension--though the rest of the sock (the cashmere part) seems fine. So I'm not sure what to do. I ordered some more of the cashmere; if the "Old shale" pattern is part of the problem, I may need to switch to something else, even if I add stitches. And I guess I will finish this pair of socks for a very skinny footed and ankled person! ANy thoughts out there on this pattern? (help!)

SOMETHING to do.....

I stopped by a knitting group today--not a knitting group I'm in, because I don't have one; but a group that meets at my younger daughter's school. We went by to see someone, really, a teacher that we knew would be therethat has been out with a broken ankle and that we were missing-- a lot. And my daughter, who is just 6, got to see her, and her knitting,and that I think made them both happy. I talked with the others there about knitting--they see me as more of an expert than I am, no doubt. But in talking with them and hearing about their projects--a prayer quilt they and their friends had knitted squares for to give to another mom with cancer, I was struck by the idea that I love knitting so much not just because it is creative, though it is, or because it makes people feel good when you give them something you make yourself, though I believe it does, or because it is a conversation starter, or even for the amazing community it creates around you even when you are basically a solitary knitter like me.
No, it is because it is SOMETHING to do when there is nothing you can do-- a tangible, touchabale, real thing that you can do for someone who is sick and that you can't help in any other way, a way to focus thoughts and prayers as you knit for them, a way to say, "My gosh,. life is so blinking out of control and I have no way to reassure you that there is hope when there seems to be none, but I can do this and show you that something can come from almost nothing, that amazing things can happen when you just keep on keepin' on, that busy hands can not JUST hold fear at bay but can knit a shawl, or a scarf or a hat or soft comfy socks, and give a person you hardly even know, or give yourself, proof that creation is new every morning, no matter how dark it seems, that you have the power to respond.
It is something I can do when I don't know what else to do in the face of difficulty and difference, when I don't have any words that I know how to speak. I think that is what knitting can do, a something we all want to be able to do. That small group of women were doing that. My six year old and my 16 year old do it with their faltering knits. Lots of us do seemingly alone in the night. It is something to do, and it is powerful, and wondrous.

Happy Days...or doing 2 things at once

Here's the thing:
Can you knit and play with sparklers with your kids at the same time? Don't worry, I didn't try!
You know you knit too much when: your youngest says to her friends, "Don't worry that mom is knitting....she can knit and do other things at the same time," you should be sure to teach her to add, "unless one of the other things involves fire!" And yes, we celebrate like this all the time around here. And yes, I started my sockapoolooza socks (all the way to the heel on sock #1), but I promised my daughter (much against my better judgment) that she would get SOME time on this blog)!

Brother-in-Law socks

These are some socks I just finished for my brother in law--I think the ONLY person I did not make socks for at Christmas! I wound up sort of inventing the pattern as I went along--a long 3/1 rib cuff, then a band heel (from nanknits) and then I continued the ribbing down the instep and did a star toe. I had some trouble with the yarn tangling, and so had to keep cutting and reattaching to get the stripes to match on this self striping yarn, but I'm happy with the way they turned out. They will be a "Presidents' Day" gift--very appropriate for my husbands political family! And since my BIL swears he wears wool socks all year round, I hope they'll be well worn!

Sockapaloooza & Midnight ramblings

I'm starting this blog to have a place to post some sockapaloooza 3 progress. I get so much inspiration from other peoples' blogs, that I thought I'd start sharing too! I hope to post about lots of things, but mainly knitting, and the rest of life, which involves children and work and lots of other joys and challenges.
For tonight, I'm posting a picture of the makings of my socks for my sock pal--some kid merino, some peruvian baby chashmere, and some 2.25 mm needles. It should be a challenge and fun!