Monday, December 05, 2016

crooked heel

Sometimes my knitting seems to be a metaphor for life. Take these socks that I'm knitting:

Sock progress

A photo posted by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on

The pattern was part of a Christmas present last year When my wonderful mother in law gifted me with SOCK CLUB!!! It is available for purchase now--it is L'abeille D'or Socks and the yarn--amazingly enough is also from that sock club. It is Modesock in a colorway that doesn't seem to be available anymore. I think it was called heirloom corn? I am too lazy to go get the wrapper.

Anyway, before I start the life metaphor, let me say this. I do love this yarn so so much, it is so squishy to work with. And I loved the sock club. I didn't anticipate that I'd actually use any of the patterns though because I have this love hate relationship with sock patterns. I love making socks. I especially love making toe up socks. But I have narrow feet and a loose knit and so I can never make a 64 stitch sock actually fit me. But I decided to give this a go because it came in a smaller size AND it was toe up.

So here is where I diverge. I have this way of knitting toe up socks on 3 dpn--you have equal numbers on two stitches and double that number on the third. Your start of a round is between the smaller needles. No stitch markers needed. YOu do need to remember if you are doing a pattern, which side you have designated as the "top" so that your pattern is actually on the top of your foot and make the heel on the OTHER side. So, when I started this pattern, I just kind of did that. Usually, I also do a version of a short-row heel that I learned from the fabulous Ann Budd in her article on toe up socks in Interweave knits sometime in 2007 (again--lazy). But this pattern called for a different heel and I thought--oh what the heck, I'll do that kind.

Well, this my friends is where I feel like my life and my socks are at the same place. I'm knitting along thinking I have things under control and then whammo I'm stuck.

In life--I'm just feeling stuck, I'm not really working in the field I trained for, not really doing a job with any upward mobility, really really wanting to do something information science related instead and not really sure what that looks like both locally and what I envision it being.

In knitting--well I understand sort of what the pattern is asking, but because I said "I don't need no stinking stitch markers" I keep feeling like the heel flap is... well crooked. I understand (I think) what the pattern is asking--I'm just not sure in this uncharted territory where to put it.

And in both--well I'm feeling so tired and busy that I'm not sure I have the energy to figure it out.