knitters only

a friend asked me to repair a sweater. I used this tutorial and am a rockstar on the first hole. (When everyone here wakes up I'll try to take some pictures of the next ones.)

This is one of those knitterly accomplishments that makes me think of my grandma.

Socks on Zoks

 

There it is, ladies and gentlemen. A sock. My first, after 3 or 4 years of knitting. I was very intimidated by socks when I started. The first thing I made that I was very impressed with was a pair of gloves for Z. He was working then in an office at the Evil Empire in a server room. In order to keep the machines cool, there was an air conditioner attempting to keep the room around 60 F... right over Z's head. The dude "next" to him (4 feet away) wore short sleeves and shorts because he was practically getting a sunburn from the machines beside him, but Z wore a fleece and a hat everyday. When he told me that he sometimes went to the bathroom just to run his hands under the hot water to warm them up, I decided I had to make him some gloves.

Those of you who know Z, know that he can be rather particular. I was concerned that I might make gloves only to have them discarded if they weren't efficient enough, so the design of these "hobo gloves" (half-fingers) was a collaborative effort, but the knitting and engineering were all me. I am proud to report that Z wears the gloves to this day. (Literally today.... it's wicked cold here right now.)

Always, though, Z asked for socks, and always, I told him I wasn't ready, like a martial artist deferring her fight against the master for years despite the montage displaying her hours of devoted practice. (Have I mentioned that I watch Kung Fu movies at the Sunset Tavern once a month? Does it show?)

Then Z quit smoking. I quit smoking too, but I've had way more practice, having quit an average of once a year over the last 12 years. Z didn't practice much, he just up and did it... and I couldn't possibly protest about making socks anymore. The day that he'd been quit for a month, I picked out a pattern and some yarn. Admittedly, I was slowed down by the s mittens (did I mention that, too?) but here I am, half way through sock #2, and I've still got a week till Z officially has 60 days smober. I think I can do it, don't you?

Don't Smoke, Don't Knit, What can you do?

Ugh.
Due to a wrist injury acquired weeks ago from closing the lid on a jar, and then exacerbated by extended periods of knitting while home sick with a cold, I cannot knit. I spent the weeked with my friend the physical therapist/massage therapist who rubbed it and pinched it and showed me how to do the same things for myself, but from the feeling of it, there will be NO knitting for days at least. This sucks because there are a couple of babies wandering into the lives of loved ones in the near future, and I just started making Z some new gloves, AND also I really enjoy knitting.

The good news is that I've been reading a lot. Right now, I'm taking turns between "Going Solo" the second half of Roald Dahl's autobiography and "The Audacity of Hope" by Barrack Obama. So far the cyncial side of me is outraged because Obama makes a lot of sense to me, and no one can really be *that* right about how to lead the country, right? So, what's his real agenda? The pragmatic liberal eats it up, because he sounds so goddam "electable". The radical is also pissed because Obama is about meeting people where they're at, not demonizing others people who don't agree and working toward an end of the polarization that's been happening in our country. The Buddhist in me loves this because OF COURSE all the dualities that appear in our views of politics and government are unreal and unuseful, but the militant feminist in me and her buddies are agog at this and want change and want it now, and don't think that this friendly attitude is going to work. So, the crowd are working it all out and I'll let you know how it goes. Everyone settles down and cuddles together, though, to hear exploits of the worlds' greatest children's author as he bops around Africa and the middle east just before WWII. It's a good balance.

Leaving Wednesday morning for Tucson YAY!