“some girls do, some girls don’t”

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this is what my 6 yr old said standing next to me.

“what?!?” i said.

“knit socks.  some girls knit socks and some girls don’t, mama.”

and she walked on by.

eerily well tuned in kid,

to get all that from having caught me

hunched intently over my 4th attempt at sock knitting,

having failed at some point in the process at least once every fall for the past 3 years.

the romance of hand knit socks gets me, but the actuality stops me short.

bah.  i’m a designer.

i dream up new twists and write patterns

this is what i do.

all the while being nearly immobilized by socks.

my knitting friends say i am the knitter’s equivalent

of the person who always picks the slowest checkout line.

i am inevitably drawn to either complicated sale items or sock patterns

that can’t seem to just shut up and get the job done.  sigh.

IMG_2364shado

i might just be fussy.

i like my knitting with clean lines,

with minimal technical manipulations showing,

and socks are technical.

in the 12″ (give or take) between a big toe and an ankle bone

there must be, by necessity, heel turning, a gusset and toe shaping.

that’s a lot of little lines of decreases and picked up stitches.

i find it distracting.  it all looks a bit messy to me;

feels messy in an awkward way.

still, i am drawn in

and part of me is absolutely certain,

that i am one of the ‘girls who do (knit socks)’.

‘turning’ taken from 2:19 of 2nd samuel.

4 thoughts on ““some girls do, some girls don’t””

  1. Well, socks don’t always have heels you know. 🙂 Sometimes they are tube socks and sometimes socks are even knit on two needles!!! I have a book that has patterns for knitting brioche stitch socks, very interesting. Your sock looks just fine to me. I wonder, if because you are a designer, and a very good one at that, if you second guess the process of sock knitting. I often do just that with patterns, and usually fall on my face. Or my needles. LOL Socks are not hard!!!! Just do what the pattern says. I finally learned that, finally. And it worked. I knit socks. Now I knit socks to fit my particular feet, and with no pattern if I wish. You can do it, Tal! I know you can.
    hugs of support from Samm who took several sessions with a friend a couple of years ago, to learn the long tail cast on…… just couldn’t get it at first.

    • thanks, samm. if determination is what it takes, i’m gonna conquer the whole sock issue this time around. if it takes something else, then we’ll have to wait and see…

      • Hey Tal, don’t give up! the feeling of wearing warm cushy socks that you made yourself is incomparable. I think so far they are my favorite hand knit item to wear. The last pair I knit were toe-up and the heel was way easier than picking up stitches. once you get through your first sock or socks! you will see it’s not so bad and actually kind of fun! Especially if you learn more than one way to knit them. watch you tube videos for great help on the way.

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