Knitting while staring at the idiot box, knitting while staring at the pros and cons of demonetisation in the newspapers and the laptop, knitting while staring at the pattern of the cardigan worn by the woman in front of me at the queue, knitting while staring at the changing colours of the leaves on the horse-chestnut trees lining the road to Kathgodam….
I kept knitting, through the train ride to Delhi, through chat-and-chai sessions with my cousins, through hilarious surprise surgical strikes on unsuspecting family folks,through a long non-linear drive back with some dear friends and some interesting gossip…
So, what do I have to show for all these phrases strung out into sentences which are dangling above?
My first pair of toe-up socks…started with diminutive 9″ circular needles (borrowed from a friend who has thrown out all DPNs from her life), and continued on my trusty DPNs. I knit well with DPNs–they hang around my fingers like decapitated toothpicks, look sharp when they are needed, and do a great job of keeping my joints in working order.
The yarn, Regia sock yarn brought by my always-supportive daughter from one her forays abroad. The pattern began with Judy Becker’s brilliant cast on,moved on to this pattern on Ravelry, and ended with a nice stretchy bind-off. It was a great knitting adventure, especially overcoming the one sock inertia. I have to thank the family and the clan for pushing me on to complete both the socks and hand them over to the daughter.
She has received, over the years, socks made by different techniques. I have a feeling that at some time in the future, her collection of hand-knit socks will document the entire history of sock-knitting.
This purple-pink pair of socks is from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s magnum opus–Knit One, Knit All. This is all about knitting without purling, and her socks are the best. We are stocking them in the shop soon.
One of the most popular patterns on Ravelry, this pair of socks was knitted by combining leftover sock yarn and knitting it top-down. The stitches are on a bias, so even though my knitting was rather loose at that time, the socks still hold up well.
I have yet to tackle some sock patterns which are calling out to me. Lace, cables, variegated patterns and so much more. In the meantime, I have learnt these mantras for sock-knitting.
- Knit tight, and knit on thin knitting needles.
- Get the calculations right, and there is no need of a pattern to follow slavishly.
- Keep a pair on the needles. Socks are great knitting projects for travel, for watching movies and for sticking to a diet..knit when you want to eat!
