The Never-Ending Socks and Other Woebegone Things

So....I FINALLY finished the Noro Kureyon socks I have been chipping away at for years (yes, years - three-ish to be imprecise). I was ecstatic to get them off of the needles. And then....I remembered why it's a bad idea to knit two socks years apart. The new sock is significantly bigger than the finished-first sock. Now, there are a variety of reasons for this: 1. time must have impacted my gauge; 2. needles - I decided that the metal dpns I started out on hurt my hands, so I switched to wooden ones, which also bothered me. Ultimately, I went with a magic loop for the second sock, but since I knit the first sock on metal dpns, it's no wonder that the two are different. Sigh.

They don't look too bad, really. No one knows that they are freakishly off but me (and you). I will wear them and they will be a warm, gentle reminder about why it is somewhat important to finish projects like socks in a moderately reasonable time frame.

In other woebegone news, I have fixed the sleeves of a sweater gone bad. I knit the Shalom sweater last year and it suffered a minor accident wherein one of the sleeves accidentally got felted to itself. I managed to pull it apart and smooth it out, but was then left with one sleeve longer than the other. A friend suggested that I rip back the bind off, knit more length and then full the entire sweater. Excellent idea! The yarn I knit the sweater in is single-ply, so it tends to pill. This would be a great way to solve two problems (sleeve and pills) with one solution. However, when I went back to check my notes for Shalom, I discovered that I had. not. Raveled. it.! Yikes! No notes. Not to be deterred from having a sweater with same-ish sized sleeves, I hand-fulled the longer sleeve and now they look about the same.

Another Nicest (Non-kniting) Thing

While we're on the topic of nicest things, my man did something incredibly sweet for me last week. It was Wednesday. Wednesdays are long days for me as I work all day, teach a college class at night, and then (knit-willing) go to knitting group. I was on my way home from said knitting group and my gas tank was dangerously low. So I stopped to get some gas, but before I got out of the car, I decided that I was too hungry to wait until I got home to eat a snack and was greedily stuffing cheese crackers into my mouth. I know. This is strange behavior and it probably looks very strange to others. In fact, I know it does because I got caught and was told as much - more on that later. My thinking was this - I wanted to eat before I got out of the car and touched the dirty gas nozzle with my clean hands. Anyway, as I was greedily stuffing cheese crackers into my mouth, I looked up, only to see a large man standing by my window. I jumped, frightened half to death, before I realized it was my guy. He had seen me pull in as he was driving by and pulled in to check and see if it was me, but then thought it couldn't be me because I would never do something so strange as to stuff food into my mouth while stopped next to the gas pump at a gas station. I explained about the cheese crackers and the hunger and the dirty gas nozzle and then my man did the nicest thing - he pumped my gas for me. It was so sweet.

Here are the socks I am knitting for him:

They are sort of like test socks. If he likes & wears these, he gets more (eventually).

The Nicest (Non-knitting)Thing

Sometimes when I am in the crappiest of moods, someone comes along and does the nicest thing for me. Moments like this remind me that there is joy to be found in the tiniest of places, if one is open to seeing it.

Several weeks ago, I was tired after a long day. I realized that we were out of dog food and that if I did not go out and get some, the dogs would go food-less in the morning. And with dogs like this, that wasn't an option:

The hour was late(ish) and it would be cutting it close to go to my preferred pet store. So, I grumpily slogged out the door, muttering under my breath and resolving to go to the first pet store I came across. Once there, I made a b-line for the food isle. I felt tense and cranky, and I bet I looked like I was in a bad mood too. I found what I needed and noted that the price was a bit higher than in my usual store. I trudged up to the counter and put my package atop it. Then, the man working the register did the nicest thing - he gave me a coupon. A $10 off coupon. It was the nicest thing. I didn't ask for it and I'm sure I looked pissy and he did it anyway. I thanked him and old him that my night hadn't been going so well and that this coupon was so thoughtful that it was helping to turn it around. He then proceeded to do another. nicest. thing! He gave me a second coupon (for later). Go figure!

Paved With Good Intentions

We all know what road that is - the one paved with good intentions....SO, during these beginning days of 2012, I'm not going to go into all of the things I would like to/intend to/should do. Instead, I am going to write a blog post and hope it continues.

Today was full of goodness: time with the dogs, molasses donuts, knitting, unpacking Christmas yarn....

And frustration: a ball of lace-weight yarn that would not cooperate (I mean I had to get out the scissors would not cooperate.)

And resolve: to stay calm, look forward to what is on tomorrow's agenda, and make some time to knit more....

especially when I have a fantastic father who gets me thoughtful, beautiful, woolly gifts for Christmas.