Monster from the Deep

Raar!

... Scary, isn't it? Primitive sea-creature? Jim Henson Creature Shop creation?

No.

Just a sock-in-progress.

Come on, dahling - show us your profile:

Even though it does look like a primitive sea-creature at this stage

This sock has been quite the learning tool. John has been exposed to the glory of sock construction (whether he likes it or not), I have regained my sock-mojo (I haven't knit a sock in seven or eight years), and a couple of weeks ago our intrepid sock-in-progress helped a nice man unravel the intricacies of knitting with double-pointed needles. I had gone off to my new co-favorite LYS, which has the salutary benefit of being located much closer to my house than my other co-favorite. I needed a new pair of Addis for John's cardigan (that wool/mohair blend is like knitting with felt cord), and I just felt like hanging out with other knitters (John was off fishing). A man came in who had knit a scarf that was a bit on the wide side, and having decided to double it and stitch it into a tube, was getting instruction from Lynne, one of the staff, on mattress stitch. He was also knitting a hat to match, and wanted to make it into a flat-topped creation. Since he had started on circulars and was speedily going to need to switch to double-points or an additional set of circulars (call me crazy, but I agree with Lynne and think you can see the construction better on dps than two circs), he had that beginning knitter's conundrum: wrapping your head around the concept of double-points. As Lynne attempted to explain it, I pulled out s-i-p and tossed it on the table. Voila: instant teaching aid.

Another reason why I like this yarn shop: Lynne was telling the man how cool double-pointed needle knitting was. "First of all," she said, "People will be terribly impressed with you because it looks really complicated, even though it's not. Second of all, it just looks..." she paused for the right word.

"Badass," I supplied.

"Exactly."

Posted: Thursday - March 16, 2006 at 07:34 AM | |