Sunday, October 12, 2008





This is a pattern I've wanted to try for a while and some yarn that I had in the stash (or boodle if you prefer). It's an Opal yarn, I forget the color but it's white with little bits of blues and purples randomly placed on the yarn. The pattern is Snowflake socks from the departed Magknits. (I don't know if it ended up somewhere else.) These are the laciest socks I've ever done and they're fairly easy. My problem is that there is an 12 row repeat and the rows are just similar/different enough that I can't easily remember it and have to keep looking at the directions. I am not enjoying the pattern, though.

As I was walking down the street toward work this morning, I realized that I don't enjoy knitting the pattern and I'm not sure I like the way it looks. I have 2/3 of the cuff done and would hate to rip out all that work but I knit for pleasure and it's not giving me pleasure. I'm going to let it sit for a few days while I try to figure out why I don't like it (it looks pretty enough, maybe it's too thin). In the meantime, I have finished one of the Reims pattern socks and started sock number two. I'm looking forward to finishing all the holiday gift knitting so I can go back to the Wildflowers shawl and finish the edging.

I had a good pj day yesterday. I lost some of it when I fell soundly asleep on the couch with knitting needles in my hand. When I woke up, I was disoriented and out of sorts for a bit so I know I was deeply asleep.

My plan is to work all day and go home and put dinner in the oven (meatloaf and roasted potatoes) and then take a short spin on the bike and then finish up the dinner and relax. I figure I need a routine so I get used to riding the bike before the weather gets too cold. I'd like to be able to ride a little distance and not feel like I'm going to fall over when I get off.

It's Columbus Day here in the US. It's a federal holiday which means no mail, no recycling pick up, and for lots of people, no work. The train was empty this morning. Sigh. As the powers-that-be remind us frequently, we are a healthcare institution and not entitled to every little holiday as people may need us.

Well, I'm off to check the phone messages and see if anyone needs me.


8 comments:

Bezzie said...

Crud! Those snowflakes were some of the next socks I wanted to knit--but cuff down (I don't care if they're backwards...).

Yes here's to the healthcare workers, the scientists, the convenience store workers, the movie theater staffs...etc.!

Erin said...

i work in a university, and we don't get it off either. I always work labor day as well, and July 4th most of the time. higher education, like healthcare, is such a big business (at this point) that they just don't want to close!
notice-- the stock markets were open this morning!

amy said...

My husband doesn't get most of the Monday holidays either. At least this one is a floater. He could have taken it off, but we need him home much more next week and the week after!! Usually he's traveling over Columbus Day weekend for an annual conference, which means it's *really* not a holiday for me, but obviously this year he stayed home.

I didn't get a chance to comment yesterday, but in our town, the best ice cream store is right on the bike path! We always see tons of bikes parked outside. I think it makes you that much more justified in enjoying the ice cream guilt free. :)

Alwen said...

I've had that, too, in knitting, where the pattern just didn't feel right for some nebulous reason.

When I asked myself, "Do I want to be done, or done with something I like?" it clarified the question of whether I would frog it.

Amy Lane said...

Oh, what wonderful things you and your family could do if you all had bikes--I look forward to reading them!

Maybe the Opal is offputting for the moment--my first Opal experience was like that--and then I rinsed out the yarn and it bloomed, and suddenly I knew what the shouting was all about:-)

Galad said...

The pattern looks pretty in the picture but is hard to stay at something you don't enjoy knitting.

Dinner sounds good. I'm going to have to dig my meatloaf recipe out now that our temperatures aren't quite so hot. I do most things in the microwave from May through mid-October so as to not heat the kitchen up more.

Rose Red said...

I know what you mean about needing to enjoy the pattern - maybe if you stretch it out and see how it looks on you might like it more?

Georgie said...

Interesting that some patterns just arent enjoyable to knit....I agrre with Alwen.

Happy Sunday!  I am sitting here working on my sweater made with the cashmere yarn my husband gave me for my birthday last year. I’m further...