Half a sock

I have reached the stage in my yarn stash where I don’t have enough of any one kind to crochet anything useful. Oh, true, I could make a couple of scarves in ugly shades of green (why did I buy that?) and probably about 500 cell phone/i-pod cozies from leftover baby yarn, but I have neither of the aforementioned devices so what’s the point? Ok, well, I do have the World’s Most Basic Cell Phone that I turn on once a week at most. It doesn’t need to be cozy; it already takes up too much room in my purse.

So, nothing to crochet = nothing for me to do in the evenings. And if I have nothing to do in the evenings, I spend inordinate amounts of time watching Guns n’ Roses videos on YouTube. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… Except that if I spend too much time on the computer, I start getting mouse hand and the circulation cuts off at the elbow. Time to suck it up and start working on my sock again.

Last year for my birthday, Mr. Gren and the kids got me a little sock loom (because I asked for it; I’m sure none of them had any idea such a thing existed beforehand). I then proceeded to ignore it for several months because lots of other projects came up. Y’know, little things like moving to a cabin, my son’s birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, our wedding anniversary, Mr. Gren’s birthday… Before I knew it, it was spring. I finally got out the little sock loom and began work on my very first knit sock. I got through the ribbed cuff and began on the stockinette stitches for the leg. And kept going, and kept going, and it never seemed to amount to anything. Nothing burns me out on a project faster than no visible progress. I also found that, unlike with crochet, I cannot use my tiny knitting loom and watch TV at the same time, which is usually what we end up doing in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed (and gotten back up. And put back down. And need a drink. And another hug. And “I can’t sleep.” And, Holy Box Springs, Batman, just stay in your freakin’ bed already!). Progress was still minimal.

But then there came the week of my brother’s wedding. I can’t watch TV and knit, but I can still talk to people (as long as they don’t expect any eye contact). It was the perfect arrangement for sock knitting. My feeble efforts were finally beginning to resemble a sock! After we got back, I managed to complete a couple rounds each day — while waiting for my computer to boot up, waiting for my turn to get in the shower, during the commercials when we watched TV… I think I found a system!

Now I have reached the heel. I began the process the other night and I think I’m doing it right. If I’m not, I’ll cry because again, unlike crochet, I don’t know how to undo knitting without ruining the entire thing. I guess it’s all a learning experience. Maybe I’ll get faster on the next one and it won’t seem so tedious. For now, though, I will bask in the glory of my half a sock.