Socks
Somebody made a comment the other day about “I guess that’s why you don’t make socks.” But I DO. I just don’t usually bother to photograph them.
Here’s proof, though. I finished this pair on Friday afternoon, made out of Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn–a blend of 60% superwash merino wool, 25% mohair, and 15% nylon–a practically perfect combination for sock yarn. This colorway is called “Northern Lights” and is actually a little darker than in this photograph.
The thing is, I almost always have a sock-in-progress in my purse. The problem, in terms of sock productivity, is that I don’t usually have a lot of “found” time out and about with my purse and nothing else to do. One of the beauties of having knitting with you at all times is that you’re never without something to do while waiting on lines, at a doctor’s office, while commuting, or whatever.
Except–it’s pretty rare for me to do any of those things. My commute to work is about 10 minutes by car, during which time knitting is frowned upon. I come home at lunch to walk Chappy, so no desk-side knitting while scarfing down a sandwich. I do as much shopping online as possible to avoid standing on lines, and try to avoid doctor’s offices.
So, basically, the only time my socks really get worked on is when I’m out for coffee with Mom on Saturday mornings. Or, like a week or so ago, when I don’t have anything else to knit. Or, Friday afternoon, when I knit on my sock while being amused by Mom and her friend.
I took Friday afternoon off from work, you see, because Mom’s oldest friend was coming to visit. They’ve known each other since they were 14, and I haven’t seen her in about 8 years. Even more amazing, she was coming HERE. Mom’s friend is terrified of driving, and even though she’s only about 15 miles (or less) away … the fact that she was driving ALL this way was probably a once-in-a-lifetime event. In fact, she was so afraid of getting lost, Mom met her somewhere around Parsippany so that her friend could follow her back up Rt 46 to the house. (She said when she got here that she couldn’t believe how “far out” we were, and she thought Mom was never going to get there. Um … depending on traffic and all, Parsippany’s about 15 minutes from here. Tops.)
So, I took the afternoon off so that I could enjoy spending time with Mom and her friend. They are hilarious together. I mean, of course they are. They’ve known each other forever, and tell great stories about each other. I made some tea and then just sat there with my sock while they laughed and talked and joked. It was great fun. (And really helpful for the work-on-the-sock vibe.)
I would show you one of the pictures I took while she was here, except Mom would kill me. My mother–who I adore–has always been difficult about letting us take her picture, but lately she’s gotten worse. She’s decided that she doesn’t “like her face” (whatever that means), and now really hates having her picture taken. So, while her friend was standing, smiling nicely for the camera, Mom was being silly. She was making faces, glaring at the camera, covering her face with her hand while she laughed. Generally doing everything she could to make the pictures, well, bad. Not just the kind where I think she looks fine but she hates them, but the kind where I can’t find a decent shot in the group. Out of 3o pictures. A probably-never-going-to-happen-again event, and there’s not a decent photo of it. Sigh.
(And no, I’m not going to share any of the bad ones with you. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for my death, would you? Because I’m not kidding. She’d kill me.) (Well, figuratively, anyway. I’ll take the risk for photos that I think are good but that she doesn’t like. But these? No, I wouldn’t share them anyway.)
I CAN show you the yarn for my next pair of socks, though. This is the yarn I bought at the Blue Purl in Madison a couple months ago. (Come to think of it, why haven’t I been back yet?) The color’s name is “Orange You Glad” but it’s really more of a gold-orange than a pure orange. Kind of school-bus colored, actually. I’m trying something different with this one and am using an actual sock pattern instead of my usual plain-jane, basic stockinette socks. I’m bringing the book into work tomorrow to use the copy machine so I don’t have to try to lug the book around with me. We’ll see how this goes. Usually I prefer plain socks, but something different doesn’t sound terrible.
The only problem, of course, is my crazily-loose knitting gauge. Since my stockinette socks are usually knit on size zero needles with just 44 stitches and fit just fine, and most sock patterns have at least 56 or more stitches, it makes knitting a pattern that has a distinct pattern across half the sock a little more challenging. So, we’ll see how it goes. On the plus side, this yarn is narrower than, say, Koigu, so hopefully the gauge will be tighter and all will be well.
Hope your weekend was a good one. I can’t believe it’s May already. My heart goes out for all the people who got flooded or socked by tornadoes this weekend. And I’m immensely grateful that car bomb in Times Square fizzled. The fact that there WAS one, whether it went off or not, is kind of terrifying.
But, also? Really, really grateful that we’re Six Months removed from THIS. Our Death By Moving Van moment.
































































































































Tannenbaum.
House Calls

