f i n a l l y

F i n a l l y ...

...a finish.

My daughter's birthday socks started here.  But now they are done!

(Only 2 months late, but nevertheless --  a just peachy finsh.)

lacy

Oh, lacy things.

(Deep, deep, contented sigh.)

I finally finished tatting this lacy Clover Doily by Jon.

This doily is made up of 3 individual motifs but once tatted together ~ it forms a lacy mosaic that seems so intricate, but is actually oh, so simple.

My obsession with lace has now seeped into socks & knitting.

I just started this Medallion Lace Sock by Andrea Fox.

And this is what I have noticed...

...I am still completely bowled over that socks are magically appearing from my needles.  I stare down at the movement and think ~ is this really me doing this?

Because it's so therapeutic.

So rhythmic.

So soothing.

And so unbelievably beautiful.

brown footies

Did you know that you can't find brown footie socks anywhere?  Well, maybe you can & I just shop at the wrong stores.

I have looked & looked & looked for brown footie socks to go with brown shoes & can't find them in any store. 

Black ones.  White ones.  Pink ones.  Polka dots ones.  But never, ever brown.

(And yes, they must be footies because regular socks seem to always fall below my heel in these shoes.) 

So?  What to do?

Find a cool pattern for footies (I found mine here at purlbee) and begin knitting my own pair. 

Now if you had overheard my conversation with my sister a few days ago, you would think me a complete whack-job a bit discontent about this whole knitting thing.

I might have gone off about how hard knitting is -  how I can't knit lace to save my life - how I end up with way too many stitches at the end of the row - how the pattern does not match up with the previous row - how, blah, blah, blah..........

Honestly, I am surprised she just didn't hang up on me.

After sitting around, long after my ranting -- I realized something.  Just because it doesn't come easy, doesn't mean I have to give up.  For some reason, that has always been my mantra (my husband says I do this all.of.the.time.)

So, I am going to fix that. 

And it starts with sticking with the sticks, even when it doesn't make sense or doesn't always end up right.

       yarn: Deborah Norville sock yarn      dpns: Clover Bamboo size 1      sock blockers: KnitPicks 

And it starts right now with these brown footies.

...and then there were 2

Two socks. 

Can you believe it?

Neither can I.

ten thousand

I recently read that if you really want to be good at something, you need to practice 10,000 hours.

This got me thinking.

10,000 hours.  Really?  So 10 years of practicing 3 hours a day --- I can become a master in my subject.

This was huge to me because I am so prone to quit something if I don't grasp it right away with the 'aww-I'm-no-good-at-this-mentality'.  Dumb, I know.

So I began to approach this whole knit-a-sock-saga that has been going on for.ever. in a whole different light.

Who cares if I don't become Master Knitter within minutes of picking up a DPNs?  Why the pressure for pete's sake?  This may take years -- not minutes...

...good grief, why was I beating myself up about this?

So it's back to my delicious Felici yarn from my darling (you can do this, Dawn!) friend, Andi and I approached these socks with a whole different attitude.

Relaxed (for a change) I absolutely fell in love with the feel of these as they formed in my hands.  Boy, oh, boy -----> soft, soft, SOFT.  This was the feeling that I was craving and it was right there...in my lap.

Okay.  I realize it's just one sock so far.  But there is a fire deep within that has been lit & the welling up that I feel is proof to my husband/kids that I do need a nice padded room has been ignited and if you hear hootin' & hollerin' that's just me ----> on fire with the knowledge that I can truly knit socks. 

And knit socks I shall do.