Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Speedy stripes or, knitting while sitting

Lately - could it be June? - I've been attending a lot of functions where one puts on one's best and sits among an audience for long periods, applauding at intervals that may or may not be regular.  Really, you'd be surprised how many different forms this kind of event can take.

Naturally I bring knitting, but I never want anyone to get the wrong idea and think I don't care about the people we're there to celebrate.  I mean, one time last fall I was at a weekend choral performance and the guy next to me worked away with his newspaper, a crunchy apple, his laptop, and a wireless mouse, then bailed for a huge chunk of the performance before coming back to see his child sing.  I don't want to be that guy. 

Nope, I bring knitting that is so easy I can keep my hands down behind the seat ahead of me and my eyes firmly on the stage.  Knitting on needles that hang onto the stitches so well you can practically fling them down when it's time to clap without missing a beat.

And that is how I can explain this massive progress on my Rainbow Socks:


That's sock #1, into the heel, which will apparently have a lot of yellow in it.

And here is sock #2, just up to its heel:


Can you believe the luck of both heels starting just when the yarn was switching over to the yellow stripe?


Honestly, it is so easy to please a knitter.

Actually it is even better than that: I knit all the last stripes of sock #2 in the dark on the highway coming back from the cottage.  I have more and more respect for the Pony Pearl double points - they are just so fluid, you can be completely mechanical and not look at your work at all.

Some duty-related knitting also happened on this weekend's run up to the cottage:


I haven't touched my stripey legwarmers since last month's trip, and I was so sad when I saw how few inches I'd knit then.  The distance had kind of expanded in my mind.  Even now they look kind of short to me... but it's progress all the same, and I finished the top ribbing on the second legwarmer, so there's less boringness to do later.

Hard to believe that the summer cottaging season is now upon me, with the retreat of the majority of the biting insects (into the bellies of lovely dragonflies.)  And also the spinning fest that accompanies the Tour de France. 

It is a great comfort to think that while time keeps on moving and often goes a good deal faster than we'd like, it does keep bringing happy experiences back into our lives.

Hope you have a lot of happy experiences today and I will see you tomorrow!

2 comments:

TerriSue said...

I think you are making great progress with everything.

Mary Keenan said...

Oh thank you so much, Terri Sue... I could not have needed to hear that more ;^)