Loaves and fishes.

All weekend I knit and knit and knit and knit, trying to at least finish the body of Lotus Blossom for this morning.  But I was hampered in my plan by a total inability to stay awake. 

This girl is not the girl she once was, it is clear, and I am forced to admit that the previous month - involving Atlantic City, Vermont and culminating in the excitement of Rhinebeck - kicked my ass.  I passed up knitting with some really fabulous NYC people this weekend because my need for rest demanded attention - so yes, it turns out there are limits on what I'll do for fiber.

When I was 25 I could go and go and go and go without too much damage, but when I was 25 I was also an idiot, so I guess the exchange to more easily exhausted but wiser is one I can live with.

So I knit and knit and knit and knit - hundreds of stitches, thousands of stitches.  And yet I still have five rows left.    Which are mostly st st with the occasional YO, so I may be able to finish them at knitting tonight.  And then all I have is the bind off.  Which has taken better knitters than I nearly three hours.

But I am not intimidated.  I don't care.  It is the process.  I am getting what I want, which is a Very Big Shawl.  Last night I held the center back  of the shawl to the center back of my neck and draped the thing down my arm. 

After spending most of the past few weeks knitting with no apparent growth in the size of the shawl, suddenly it is nearly 10 inches longer than my arm at that point.   That's hanging loosely, with only a slight stretch applied along the edge.  Oops. 

Couldn't be helped - 4 repeats of the blossom edge looked stupid.

In the end I will have added three repeats, or 50 + rows - 18 in the stems, where the black line is drawn into the picture, and two full repeats of the blossoms along the bottom edge.  I would be more specific, but the pattern is balanced on the arm of the couch at home and I, tragically, am at my desk.  Working hard, as you can see.  It comes out something like 420 stitches across. 

(As I sit here freezing my fingers in this icebox of a building, I am concious of a faint regret I didn't take a few hours to make a pair of simple fingerless gloves. )

It's nice - it seems to have gone on forever, but once I stopped fighting - agitating in my heart for it to be done, a period during which every row took a hour and I picked it up and put it down with little progress a million times - it was surprisingly quick and pleasant.  It mixes well with repeats of L&O:Criminal Intent.  I did have a bit of trouble  working on it whilst watching the new Rupert Everett Sherlock Holmes last night (flawed but absorbing).  Mistakes Were Made while my attention was on the fate of the drooping Victorian debutantes.  It does bother me when they make the corpses too pretty  - it makes a fetish of the desirability of passive - passive unto death - womanhood. 

In lieu of the hoped for finished - or largely finished - shawl, I will show you something else.

When Ms. Too Much Wool was here post Rhinebeck, she mentioned that her socks had stretched out too big.  I'm about a foot or more taller than she is, so I didn't really expect a match, you know?  But I am revving up to begin my first pair soon, and I am interested in the question of fit.  So I asked if I could try them on.   I did.  They could have been made for me.  See?

So she let me keep them.  I think she could see I was going to cry if I had to take them off. 

Isn't she sweet?

Comments

[Bookish Wendy]

SPA? I saw mention of SPA. I will be there! ;)

You haven't knit a sock yet?! Goodness gracious, get moving girl!

[Bookish Wendy]

SPA? I saw mention of SPA. I will be there! ;)

You haven't knit a sock yet?! Goodness gracious, get moving girl!

[Bookish Wendy]

SPA? I saw mention of SPA. I will be there! ;)

You haven't knit a sock yet?! Goodness gracious, get moving girl!

[Reb]

Oh your Lotus Blossom is inspirational! Off to buy the pattern...

Yes, you are a lucky girl with those socks! Are those the feather and fan ones from Knitting on the Road? Do you know what yarn?

[Laurie]

What a great sleazy way to worm socks out of TooMuchWool! I'm taking lessons, yknow. Don't you pay no mind to "your second pair of handknit socks should be made by you".

I can't picture you as an idiot at 25. Not at all.

I'm knittingly envious of Lotus Blossom. Yes, I have the pattern. I suppose I have some yarn. I can't even get my third pair of socks done.....

[Sarah]

Missed you on Sunday, but there's bound to be many more. Having huddled at my desk all day cursing the lack of heat provided by my non-profit employer, fingerless gloves have worked their way to the top of my to do list.

[Rachel H]

I love the colours on those socks! Lucky you! I'll think happy Lotus Blossum finishing thoughts for you this evening while picking up two hundred and thirty something stitches for the side border of a baby blanket due to be gifted on November 6th. If I'm not too busy swearing and re-doing because I've put my pick ups in the wrong places.

[Norma]

Fingerless gloves (and I have three pair, plus the gorgeous beaded pulsevante, and the ones I made for husband that I occasionally swipe) have become as essential as underwear around here. I literally live in them and wonder what I ever did without them. And they are saving my poor freezing ass this winter. You will be glad you made some. They take almost no time to knit. I can share my pattern for the simple ribbed ones, if you like.

Boy, do I know what you mean about only being able to take so much anymore. And of course I'm a decade older than you, so it's probably exponential. Someone young recently said to me, "Why doesn't everybody do this at least once a month, where we all get together for regional festivals, etc.?" I said, "This is more than I can take already!" Geesh, I need a rest, heh.

[Lee Ann]

That Julia is a tough taskmaster...looks like you and I will both have to knit socks...

I might go to Spa. My brother lives in Portland. It will depend on availability of both brother and my darling husband...but it's on the radar screen, anyway...

I need fingerless gloves, too. I'm freezing my little hobbit hands off.

[Colleen]

Great socks. It is so cold that I (the knitter who does not make socks) am considering casting on for a pair.

[julia fc]

What? You haven't knit socks yet? Did I know this about you? I'm shocked. I may not be able to be seen with you in public. Which gives you four months to knit a pair.

[valentina]

D'oh! Missed the Sherlock Holmes thing (which is not difficult for me to do, seeing as we don't really watch TV). Missed you, too.

[mamacate]

Now that's a true gift.

Yes, it seems that letting go of the product is the very best way to actually produce a product. Just like everything else, apparently.

[Cassie]

Obviously they were meant to be yours. Still not sure how I made them for me and they're yours, but hey, I'm glad to make you happy. But I really do think that your second pair of handknit socks should be made by you, okay?