Sock stories

I have knitted a pair of socks.

Socks crafted from a lovely present of German self-striping sock yarn.

Yarn in shades of blue, prussian green, greys and some more water shades in-between. Its been magic at every row…watching the emerging stripes with little feathery plumes of grey and blue, staring at the ball unravelling  a new colour code at every turn, wondering if I am going to get symmetrical stripes on both feet ( I didn’t), fretting about the yardage ( I have  lots left over), and basically giving that Icelandic pullover project a total ignore ( Just LOVED doing that!)

I used this simple pattern from one of my favorite blogs . If I haven’t mentioned Glenna C and her writing, please take time to read this post on knitting adventures, and her insightful essay for knitting beginners. It just might inspire you to find a way to handle the stress of living! and join the merry gang of knitters with their secret recipe for creative calm…I never give up hoping to see a network of serene knitters in this country!

The socks are lovely, warm and a little asymmetrical..its a good thing that I have one foot slightly smaller than the other one. Not quite sure which one is which, but it makes me accept my irregular pair of socks happily. I have enjoyed knitting these socks, not just for the knitting, but for the reactions and resolutions they have ignited…

• My dear knitting friend, currently crafting the amazing Stonecutter sweater and ensuring that I itch to start a new one myself, looked up from her knitting charts, and muttered deeply and darkly, “socks just don’t do anything for me. I will not knit socks”…and she looked at me with mutiny in her eyes. We usually agree on all things knitting, so it turned out to be the first time that we agreed to disagree on something in knitting, and the world kept turning!
• A friend who lives, eats, talks and interrupts the world with his passion for planting trees and saving forests, took a break from his beloved trees to tell me about his late Grand-Aunt who would knit these perfect socks for him, socks which still have a place  of honour in his wardrobe, socks which looked just like my knitted ones. Our bonds of friendship have become iron cables now!
• While knitting through a lunch break in the midst of a 3 day intensive Tai-Chi workshop, a participant spied the sock, tried it on, wanted to order as many as possible, and talked about her icy-cold extremities. We bonded over tea, socks, chats over personal matters and I have one more friend, one more reader of this blog, and lots more future adventures,with or without TaiChi/knitting.
• And then, a willowy, elegant friend who knitted and knitted through the yester-years of growing kids and frequent postings ( she had the fantastic idea of knitting large cables for her son’s uniform socks, and small cables for her daughter’s uniform socks–no fights or searches for matching pairs when the school bus is honking at the gate) who declared that she will never knit again, just quietly melted after seeing the pair. She accepted a present of sock yarn, decided to buy a set of dpn from our little store, and I can now look forward to some shared hours of knitting and chatting and sharing with a dear soul-mate!

I love knitting socks. I love the side-effects of knitting socks..