Once upon a time I knit a bunch of socks and because I really loved knitting socks, I decided to see if I could fund my trip to BlogHer ’08 by knitting socks for anyone who was willing to pay $50. It worked. (I was shocked when it worked.) BlogHer ’08 was weird and amazing and dramatic and wonderful. I haven’t been back since. (I do miss it and I would spend some time talking about it, but I feel like I’ve already beaten my Dead Horse o’ Neuroses into the ground. I’ll let you off this time.)
So, socks. After I knit a bunch of socks for the BlogHer gig, I quickly learned the following two things about myself: 1. I don’t really like to take orders for handknit items. So much pressure! (I will make rare exceptions if I’m given a LOT of time.), and 2. Socks really aren’t that much fun to knit. (For me. If you love to knit socks, we can still hang out, of course. I used to eat feta cheese and chocolate chips mixed together as a snack. We all have bags full of wacky, don’t we?)
In September of 2009, I finished these socks for myself:
Because socks really aren’t that much fun to knit (for me), this particular pair took exactly two years to complete. (When I was knitting socks for BlogHer, I had to finish one sock each week to keep up. So, although I can knit a pair of socks in two weeks, this pair took 104 weeks. Heh.)
I love these socks. They’re made of Koigu which is squishy and shows stitch definition really well and I find myself saving them for special occasions because they’re orange and warm and leafy and the toe construction is all crazy and nice.
Last week I wore the socks to a meeting, and then I came home and changed my clothes in the family room. (That’s where the laundry baskets are, and right now they’re filled with clean clothes. When in Rome!) I stacked the clothes I had been wearing (including the socks!) on the piano bench (as you do) and walked into the kitchen to check e-mail.
I soon noticed that Scout and Henry were playing tug-of-war with an old towel but it wasn’t really an old towel at all. It was one of my Koigu socks, and I didn’t realize that until it was entirely too late.
And then I was very sad, but I knew it was my fault for leaving the socks out and socks and towels are pretty much the same thing when you’re a dog, so no one was punished, although both dogs WERE put in their crates for ten minutes or so because I needed some time to mourn.
(It’s impossible to be mad at Scout and Henry because sometimes they reverse spoon each other on the couch and it makes my blood pressure drop.)
Tomorrow is the first day of spring. I have a weird feeling in my throat and when I walk outside, it feels like November. The good news? I’ve had my eye on this ring for over two years, and now it’s off of Etsy and on my finger and if you can’t have spring in the air, you may as well have it on your hand.
A friend and I went nose ring shopping over the weekend and as a result, I now have the ability to run faster than ever before. We have so much to talk about, don’t we? ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>
Run faster! Jump higher! Have better reproductive health!
I want that ring in a necklace! It’s been on my Etsy Favorite list forever. Someday I’ll give in…
I actually gasped at my kitchen table when you showed your poor belated sock. I’m so sorry! I am an avid sock knitter, a I would be devastated if something that took so long was suddenly gone.
Sorry about the socks, they were lovely. I love, love, love that ring!
Oh no! (Sock – but if you have more yarn, you could reknit it from instep to toe?) Oh yes! (Ring.)
So–if you keep your hand nice and warm while wearing this fantabulous ring, will 3 itsy-bitsy robins hatch out?
Sad to hear of the demise of those lovely socks…
Happy week before Easter!
I treasure the socks that you made for me. I only wear them on special occassions. I have probably only worn them about 5 times because I want them to last forever!! I do like to show company the socks, though. And then we all talk about how beautiful they are and how you have some mad knitting skills. I envy those skills.
Do you think your aversion to knitting socks came from having to knit so many?
And love, love, love the ring. I have a wish list to on Etsy. Heh. I wish I was as talented with my knitting so I can acquire some of those items.
That is a beautiful ring. Worth the wait definitely.
Maybe you could make something from the remains of your socks? I am not crafty, but a little pin cushion, pillow for an american girl doll, or something that is actually a good idea, to still have them used and appreciated might help the grief.
I want to borrow your dogs, do you have a fee schedule? Is it extra for snuggles?
I’m with you on the issue of the dogs not being punished. But I also have vast experience with canine critters wrecking things, so I know how you feel.
If it helps, years ago I decided to leave a “legacy” and embarked on two projects, both of which I would treasure and use and then leave to my two children. One was a lace tablecloth that took me more than a year (working every night after dinner) to crochet. The other was a large afghan with intricate stitches and eleven different colors, which took me more than another year to knit.
My darling husband helpfully tossed the tablecloth in the washer (We have a delicate cycle? What for?) and it looked just like your socks when it came out. The afghan was the victim of the fire that started when our daughter fell asleep with a candle burning in her room — a forbidden activity that resulted in destruction of a lot of material things but we were all came out of it safe and sound.
I used to get a bit het up about both events, but it’s been more than twenty years since both, and I no longer have that sadness about the loss of the things I made. They are just things. I loved them once, but not nearly as much as I loved the perpetrators who unintentionally destroyed them.
I love that robin’s nest ring. Beautiful!
I mourn your sock. I have four pairs of knitted socks – two pairs of which I made for my children whose feet were the same size as mine. The children then grew out of them without wearing them out so now they belong to me.
I haven’t finished a knitting project in two years.
That ring is lovely.
Where did you get the ring exactly? As I close in n my due date I am looking for something just like that…you know…since I will have been the nest for three bird boys.
So sorry about the socks. I have knit two pairs, and didn’t really love making them, but loved wearing them. One pair has big holes but I can’t get rid of them. I keep thinking that someday I will have a nice knitting area, and I can get a shadow box…but that is a long time off (see also: three boys, above)
Sorry about the socks. The ring is lovely.