Two Pairs of Socks!

I've never made any secret of the fact that my sock-knitting pace is glacial, so be amazed with me that I've finished two pairs of socks in the last two weeks. I hate to admit just how long all these socks have been underway. It’s been awhile.

I cast on the first pair last spring at a quilt retreat, when my friend R. told me she’d teach me to knit socks on two circular needles.

So $40 later, all set up with two pairs of new Addi circulars, I was on my way, taking baby steps. I remember asking R. about some point of technique and was told, “You’ll figure it out”. Truth be told, she had never actually made socks on two circulars herself.

WHAT????

Socks on circulars was an....adventure. At one point, I was on a plane and discovered I had no idea what to do with the circular needles once the heel was turned. I had to contact my “teacher”, who had no clue either. She contacted our LYS, who emailed me the directions.

(Big shoutout to Jenny at Knitch…)

Another friend accidentally took these socks-in-progress home with her from a retreat in the fall and I was without them for a couple months. In the interim I started another pair, using my new favorite yarn, Crazy Zauberball.

(I just love to say it. Crazy ZOW-BER-BALLLLLLL…)

When I got the Addi socks back, I had decided that socks on double circular needles are not for me. I can always tell when a project is going the wrong way when I think up excuses NOT to work on it. So the Addi socks sat for awhile while the Crazy Zauberball ones progressed.

Once the Zauberball socks were done, I turned back to the Addi ones, transferred them back to double point needles and …ahhhh.

I guess I am just a double-point-needles-socks person.

The contrast between the two yarns is like night and day. I have two more balls of Crazy Zauberball waiting in the wings, but I can tell you I will NEVER knit another sock with Happy Feet yarn. Actually, the Happy Feet yarn might have knit up better with #2 needles. Anyone have any better experiences with Happy Feet? (I still have trouble distinguishing subtleties in yarns.)

And so we learn.

Hoping I can figure out something else to do with those pricey size 1 Addi Turbos. And of course before I figured out that I didn’t like the double circulars, I had spent $40 on two size 2 circulars too.

Someone, please slap me.

Socks #1
Pattern: Alternating 2 X 2 Rib—Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Happy Feet by Plymouth, color 17
Needles: US #1 circulars AND double points (changed horses in mid-stream)

Socks #2
Pattern : Garter Rib—Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Crazy Zauberball, Color 1702
Needles US #1 double points

Antiquing

It was a very good Saturday.

Met up with Kay M., an old friend from college whom I see all too seldom, and we trekked to Columbus, Wisconsin, home of the largest antique mall in the state. I swear it's waaaay bigger than it was the last time we were there. We actually got lost and had to ask directions to get out of the place, lugging our finds down the maze-like aisles of the store.

And wonder of wonders--when we got to the checkout, it was 20%-off day! Yay.

Lunch was decadent by my usual standards--egg rolls, pork fried rice, and General Tso's Chicken. We looked over each other's photos of big events: a wedding (my family) and grandchildren (Kay's). I will say here that one of the happy results of so many new Chinese-Americans is that there is great Chinese food to be had even in tiny towns like Columbus, WI.

But the Columbus Antique Mall is not a place to find early stuff. I was hoping to find brown, black, or purple transferware, and the pickings were slim indeed. It's just not a 19th century kind of place.

There was Purinton Apple at every turn, which was hard to pass by. Until I buy another cupboard, which is highly unlikely, my Purinton storage space is filled to the brim. I contented myself with one interesting little pitcher.

And there was Fiesta, and Russell Wright (which I've really come to love), and Jewel Tea Autumn leaf (I actually have BOXES of Autumn Leaf in my basement--my mother-in-law collected it but I have nowhere to put it). Yup, I'm CRAZY about dishes and china but have at long last learned that you can't buy it all.

Always have my eye open for vintage fiber-y stuff, and I was rewarded here. Bought this bag, filled with hand-crocheted trims, for $12.

When I got home, I discovered they are beautiful edgings for pillowcases, sewn together and ready to go, enough for half a dozen pillows.

Cute mint-condition tea towels--these will be a present for somebody,

and a feedsack.

And here comes the reverse buyer's remorse: there were three of these feedsacks. Why in heaven's name did I just not buy them all? Duh! May be heading back to Columbus sooner than I think...

Finally, here was the (to me anyway) jaw-dropper: this tablecloth is identical to one my mother owned which did regular duty on our kitchen table when I was a small child.

Back then, I was what they liked to call "a poor eater" (imagine that...) and occasionally was told to sit until I had eaten that incinerated porkchop or those leaden mashed potatoes. I got REAL familiar with this tablecloth on those occasions.

In such ways we figure out much about how we'll raise our own children. Time has passed; and thanks to some lessons I learned at that kitchen table, we learned to roll more gracefully with the few food issues that came up with our own kids. I can be objective about this tablecloth now and welcome it back into my life.

But life is always full of little ironies that smack you down--I did have one kid who was absolutely crazy about mashed potatoes.

The Calendar

This wonderful blog post by writer Austin Kleon has been circulating on Facebook, with tips on creativity, getting ON what you need to do, and making it all happen for yourself. All the tips and catchphrases are great, but what really intrigued me was the author’s calendar.

Is that not great? He explains that he had a book to write, and had to keep to a schedule in order to make his deadline. So he got himself a Moleskine, drew a whole bunch of little boxes for the days, and lived in those little boxes for the next six months.

I like the graphic-ness of it. You can chalk up your accomplishments, but you can also look back and say, “There’s my life,” and see how those days are piling up.

I’m thinking that my braid quilt is kind of like this Moleskine calendar. I had started it as a retreat project last year—mindless sewing that would gradually, gradually add up to Something.

And I’ve continued making those braids at home when there was time, and on my bi-weekly sewing nights with friends. Fabric chunk after fabric chunk, seam after seam, day after day.

Things are adding up—half of the quilt is in one piece. Three seams remain and the top will be together.

One day follows another and pretty soon a year or twenty or forty or so years have gone by. And what have we to show for it? As quilters, we generally have quite a lot, and in a hundred years, our descendants will be able to touch what we touched, and be warmed by the work of our hands. Yes, yes, a nice warm and fuzzy thought…

But, one note of warning to my descendants: if any of my quilts are ever used to wrap up spare tires, I promise to come down (or up!), haunt your house, bend spoons, toss sugarbowls, and make your life thoroughly miserable.

And don't think I won't do it.