Crazy or Brilliant?

Now I am sure we all have those projects that need to spend some time alone and think about what they have done to us. They get put away in a bag, a drawer, or shoved into the back of a closet. I recently pulled out one of these such projects. This guy had been on "time out" for about a year (not really sure, because for some reason I never entered it on ravelry...so not like me). Here is the project that had to think long and hard about what he did:



They are sideways socks. The pattern wasn't particularly hard, just a different way of constructing socks, which I thought would be fun when I started them. I also thought it would be cool to have sock with vertical stripes instead of horizontal ones. Turns out I was wrong. These socks were not fun at all for me. If I was dreading working on the first sock, what made me think I would ever do the second sock? It might have been my first case for Second Sock Syndrome (SSS).

So the sock was shoved in a bag and then smashed into the bottom of my knitting basket. I pulled it out the other day and didn't want it sitting there unfinished any longer (maybe pregnancy is causing finishitis). I hated to rip it out because I spent so much time on it already, but after realizing that I would have to keep knitting this sock plus the second one in order to finish the pair, I finally decide to frog it (something that is sometimes very painful for me as I watch hours and hours of work be undone in minutes).

In these situations, all you can do is slip the needle out and RIP IT!



It actually ended up looking like really colorful top ramen, which is kind of fun. Plus once it was all ripped out I immediately cast on a pair of basic toe up socks. I finished one sock in about two days and have already cast on number 2.

I felt a little crazy at first when I frogged all my hard work, but felt brilliant once I had finished that first sock.

Made My Day!

About 5 years ago, I was able to go to a book signing for the Yarn Harlot. Me, being a shy person (and newer to the knitting world), didn't say much. Just got my audio book signed, took a picture, and that was pretty much it.

Stephanie just finished another book tour, and there weren't any events close enough for me to attend, but there was one in Portland where my cousin lives. I begged her to go so that I could live vicariously through her. I informed her that she should take her first pair of socks and at least one of her kiddos so that she could be on Stephanie's blog.

I am so glad my cousin made it to the event and she went all out! She took both kids and her husband. I don't think she showed Stephanie any of her own knitting. She had everyone in the family wearing or holding something I had knit for them. She even told Stephanie that they were there for Aunt Amanda and that I had knit all those things. To this Stephanie said, "Aunt Amanda rocks!" That was seriously better than if I had gone to a signing by myself and not said much to her.

Here is the post. My cousin is Laurie, with husband, Timothy, and kids. The Yarn Harlot even mentions "Auntie Amanda." Absolutely awesome!!!