january socks (hooray!)

"beauty is twice beauty
and what is good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in winter."

from "Ode to my Socks," Pablo Neruda translated by Robert Bly

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Two warm feet and a sigh of relief. January socks are finished! 

Check out the Monthly Sock Challenge to see everyone else's January socks.

january socks

I'm sorely afraid that my January socks will end up being just a lonely January sock. I had an unfortuitous start when my yarn cake immediately turned into a yarn snarl. I've never had this happen before, and I haven't had the patience to untangle it yet. Instead, I just cut the yarn and kept knitting, which is fine until I run out of yarn.

So then I was knitting away, only it turns out that colorwork is not nearly as enjoyable on double-pointed needles as it is on circular needles. Or maybe it is once you get the hang of it? Obviously, I do not have the hang of it because my tension was too tight to begin with. The sock was then put in time-out for a week while I wondered if I needed to rip it out and begin again in a larger size, but I decided that I since I could get the sock on and it didn't cut off circulation, I could live with it.

Three weeks into January I finished my first sock, and even with all the issues, I love it. I really think it's a thing of beauty, one of the most impressive things (to me) that I've made with my own hands. And I considered framing it and calling it art and most importantly, calling it finished.

But no, I couldn't help myself. I've got another cuff on the needles and less than a week to finish. Hope springs eternal.

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I'm joining the Monthly Sock Challenge, trying to make a pair of socks each month for a year. Needless to say, I'm thinking worsted weight for my February socks.

stockings were hung by the chimney with care

 

Wishing you happy holidays and good cheer!

P.S. December socks are complete and on my feet, keeping me snug this Christmas morning. 

december socks (in progress)

My December socks are sailing along, thanks in no small part to the addictiveness of knitting those stripes. It's so fun to see another stripe emerge and so easy to think "just one more." The yarn is Tokyo Underground by Quaere Fibre; I've been missing Japan lots lately, so this is a small way to remember my times there and tide me over until we can afford plane tickets back. All that's left now is to knit the second toe, which means I should be wearing new socks by the weekend (or sooner).

This is my third pair of socks for Liesl's Monthly Sock Challenge. I'm still taking it month by month, but I'd love to complete a year in socks. I've already lined up my January and February socks! (A heads-up if you're interested in that January sock pattern: Dianna Walla is offering 25% off all her patterns through the end of December with this coupon code.)

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I've been reading Yokes before bed the past few nights, meting out a little at a time so it will last longer. I bought the print version specifically for reading in bed, and it's definitely worth it. This book combines my love of anthropology, history, and knitting, and it's accompanied by beautiful patterns. My favorite pattern is Cockatoo Brae, the cardigan on the cover with the Shetland tree and star. I'd love to knit it someday--maybe next year!

I didn't notice how similar the colors in my socks and the book cover were until I saw this photo. Unintentional, but it makes me smile. Also, I can't help but hope maybe I am the one in Louisville, Kentucky who inspired Kate to sing. Either that or there are other Kate Davies fans around here that I need to find and befriend, pronto.

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I'm linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along and the Monthly Sock Challenge

What are you working on this week?

november socks

My November socks are bright and merry and warm, all the things you'd hope for in a pair of socks to keep your toes snug during this busy holiday season.

I'm trying out new traditions this year, and this morning my boy and I made ornaments from applesauce and cinnamon. He likes pouring ingredients into the bowl and helping mix everything up.

And now it's past noon and I haven't washed my face yet and I spent a good hour this morning with my boy on and off the toilet as he learns to use it and still we ended up with an accident on the floor, but at least the house is warm with the scent of cinnamon and cloves, and my feet are clad in beautiful socks. That's the holidays, right? Overlooking those things that drive you crazy and reveling in those things that make you smile, laugh, love. Or maybe that's just life? Either way, I hope you're finding those good things too.

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P.S. I'm joining in Liesl's Monthly Sock Challenge.

P.P.S. You can find a sneak peek of my December socks here.

P.P.P.S. Just kidding. I'm done.

november socks (in progress)

I've been knitting away on my November socks during nap time. After I put Jude to sleep, I rush through any chores that must be done and then hurl myself into bed to work on these socks. That brilliant pink offers a warming contrast to our increasingly gray days here. Today we heard on the radio that we might get a few snow flurries, and Jude squealed! He has been enamored with snow books for most of this year, and just last week he tried on his snow boots and toddled clumsily around the house on his suddenly heavy feet. He is ready for the snow!

At night I've been getting lost in Not That Kind of Girl. I've been wanting to find a book to fall into. You know that feeling you get when you become so absorbed in a book that you forget about everything else and just keep turning pages late into the night? I wanted that. I used to get that feeling all the time as a teenager. I'd live in books then, identifying with characters as much as my friends. As I get older I find that kind of escapism harder to achieve, so anytime a book does that, I let it take me. Not That Kind of Girl, though nonfiction, lets me escape to New York for a few hours each night. My favorite quote so far speaks to the inability to be completely absorbed in a moment:

"A night of carousing never passed without me stepping outside the experience to think, Yes, this must be what it is to be young" (p. 184).

I read this and immediately thought about the time in college that some friends and I ordered Avon. The whole time we were discussing lipstick shades and which nail polish to buy, I couldn't help feeling like I was doing anthropological fieldwork. "So this is what college girls talk about," I thought. I just wish I'd made some field notes.

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I'm joining Ginny's Yarn Along and Liesl's Monthly Sock Challenge.

october socks

My October socks remind me of an overcast day in Maine when my husband and I walked a short trail at the top of Cadillac Mountain in grayed out conditions. A cold mist settled over the mountaintop that morning, and we were the only ones crazy bold enough to be out walking on such a dreary day. Droplets gathered on my eyelashes and dripped mascara down my cheeks, and the wind tangled my hair. At some point our walk became more of a frenzied hunt for the car so we could get out of the cold, wet weather. We headed back to Bar Harbor smelling of wet wool and looking like wild animals. Lucky for us, there were plenty of warm coffee shops for us to dry off in, and a shop selling this pretty gray yarn that I bought to commemorate the day.

I'm joining in Liesl's sock challenge to knit a pair of socks a month for a whole year (though I'm taking it month by month). Find more notes on my October socks here.

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Sock Challenge Inspiration

I loved Jesse's faux cabled socks so much that I cast on a pair as my November socks.

I've had in mind to make gray socks with cream heels and toes, so when I saw Ine's Drizzly Day socks, it felt like a daydream come true for me. I've already got yarn lined up for a pair, but I keep wondering if I should throw in a little colorwork pattern on the leg.

Casey finished her October socks in a dizzying five days! Now that's motivation.

One more from Ine: Her Chamomile and Honey socks for November are so beautiful. I want to knit a pair just like them.

knitting frenzy

Hello. I am happy to be visiting here again. Over the past month I've thrown myself headlong into knitting, spending any free moments when I'm not caring for my boy, working, or keeping the house together with needles in my hands.

In truth, it has been frenzied, knit-like-the-wind knitting. I have been staying up too late and falling into bed only when my fingers can't knit another stitch. I have been knitting because I have to. I have to make something. I need the mindlessness of blindly following a pattern, even if it means making mittens that are two inches too big for my boy's hands. I need the control of deciding to alter a pattern when it isn't working for me, like the "Easygoing" socks that somehow stumped me from the get-go. It is not a hard pattern. I was just having a hard time. So I changed the stitch count and eliminated one of cables (one of two, mind you--somehow that second one pushed me over the edge), and now it works for me.

My knitting frenzy didn't come out of nowhere. I had a miscarriage last month. I just wanted to mention it here because so many of you offered support after my last post and because I strive to be authentic and open in my life. I thought about writing more about the miscarriage here, but for now I don't plan to. I am comfortable talking about it on an individual basis, but I don't want to put it out into the vast unknown of the Internet.

But know that I am okay. I am almost to a place of relaxed knitting. I can feel my mind and my fingers slowing their pace, forming stitches for enjoyment once again. It's a good sign.