Hazelnut Reflections

on the needles

This past week, I've counted, I think I spent nine hours at the LYS Gourmet Yarn. Five and a half hours of that was yesterday alone. I was determined to finish my first sock. (Well, I made a Christmas stocking on size 11 dpns with Lopi last year, but I didn't know what I was doing, there was no grafting, and there was no futzing with tiny needles). This sock, which had been on the needles for a few months a little while, and I was ready to finish it. Since I was making the sock as part of a socks class, I was able to sit with Margaret for some of the scary parts, like picking up the stitches after turning the heel, or doing math, and finally, doing the Kitchener grafting thing at the end. I've taught myself a lot out of books, but there's really no substitute for the learning you acquire sitting with someone who's been knitting a lot longer than you have. I've started on the second sock already to avoid SSS (Second Sock Syndrome--or, can a process person do the same thing twice in a row?).

Branching Out and I are having issues. It's taking a little rest in my basket. I also started another Ministry on the River scarf for the Seamen's Church Institute, and, I realized I did have time to make a vestment for the upcoming feast day of the new Harry Potter movie. Unfortunately, our diocesan convention falls smack dab on opening weekend, but I want to be ready.

Finally, yesterday evening, when I came back from the socks class and the Knit-In, after five and a half hours with toe decreases, Kitchener stitch and casting on for the new sock (and with my burgundy and gold Cascade 220 for HP), I was exhausted. I had been concentrating so hard for so long my brain was fried. I hadn't thought about anything else during that time, not work, or upcoming projects, or personal issues, or anything. The phone rang. It was someone returning a phone call I had made to her the other day. She apologized for not returning my call earlier. I said, (cause I wasn't thinking clearly), "that's ok, I was knitting a sock all day."

What I meant, of course, was that I was in this wonderful place where the rest of the world fell away while I was in the flow of the knitting, and that it was so meditative and contemplative that I wasn't concerned about anything else, but I was too tired to communicate all that.

So, for the record, I'm not crazy, I was just having a good time with the sock and the knitting and the other people who think spending a Saturday afternoon worrying about toe decreases is exactly where one needs to be.

posted by Emily @ 6:44 PM