Today has been a strange day. I seem to have done a lot of things and yet not really accomplished anything. That is until this evening, where progress has been rather good on my second sock.
One of the benefits of knitting two identical items is that the second one invariably gets done quicker. I started the second sock yesterday evening but only did a few rows before I got engrossed in something else so it was put down. Late this afternoon I picked up my knitting again and finished the rib and started on the pattern on the leg of the sock. It's a very simple pattern which only requires that I be able to count to 3. This is something that I have been able to do since I was a very young child, and as the requirement is only required on alternate rows, I do get to knit half the rows without having to count at all.
Knitting in the round, as you do when making socks, does have its pitfalls nevertheless. The main one is that you have to be aware where each round starts and finishes and if possible it is best to have the start and finish on different needles. I use a small brass safety pin to indicate the end of the round, and to count the number of pattern repeats. I have to complete 18 pattern repeats and then I start the procedure for turning the heel. Hopefully, I will get that far this evening.
Turning the heel always seemed an incredibly difficult thing to have to accomplish when I was younger, and it seemed so difficult that I avoided knitting socks for many years. Having knitted a number of pairs of socks over the last couple of years, I now wonder why I thought that it was so difficult. It is simple enough that anyone who can follow a pattern can do it.
So, I am going to pick up my knitting and based on how long it has taken me to knit the pattern repeats that I have so far completed, I think that I can reach the point where I start work on the heel while watching a film tonight. But then I will put my knitting down, much as I would probably love to continue because I don't want to be too late to bed tonight. Tomorrow is psychotherapy day and that means having to get up early, and a late night because I have become engrossed in my knitting is not a good idea.
2 comments:
It sounds very therapeutic... almost worth the effort irrespective of the finished product!
I must give it a try...
I was absolutely rubbish at knitting when I was young; partly because I was left handed and had to do all the stitches backwards from everyone else; but also because I think I just don't have the knitting gene. Turning a heel would finish me off, I think..
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