Lightning Never Strikes Twice

Or how I learned to let go and love the sock.

I've just been watching the most amazing thing. There's a massive thunderstorm going on somewere a little ways away from here. I was going out to the porch to collect the cats before closing up for the night. And the sky was just lighting up. I could see forks of lightning through breaks in the clouds. Other times the clouds were just lighting up from behind. The thunder was a constant low rumble. It was just phenomenal to watch.

And appropriate. I was thinking today about knitting socks. The first time I tried knitting socks, I had a ball of Magic Stripes from Lion Brand and was just using the ball band pattern. I got the leg done, turned the heel, picked up the gusset stitches, and started on the foot. I was about half way through the foot when I looked at what I was doing, pulled out my needles and frogged the whole thing. Geek Boy just watched in amazement.

"Are you pulling that out?"
"Yep."
"Why?"
"Because it's boring and I was just thinking...when I'm done, I have to do this all over again. Forget it. I'm not meant to knit socks."

With the exception of a few quick baby hats, I had discovered I don't like to knit the same thing twice. So, socks were probably not going to be part of my knitting portfolio...ever.

Then I started finding socks with interesting patterns. And a friend offered to teach me two at once using magic loop. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. Well, from the time she taught me how to cast on, until I got around to actually trying it, I couldn't remember how to do the two at once thing. But by this time, I had promised my sister a pair of socks. And low and behold, I was able to knit the same thing twice and stay interested.


So, then it was a quick foray into the Jaywalker phenomenon.

Mostly because I had just been to Boston, and there was something to it. So, Crazy Chrissy's Jaywalkers... A birthday present for my cousin. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Rainbow. (This was my first attempt at photographing socks...not an easy task, but highly amusing to Geek Boy.)






And now I'm on my "own design," using Wendy's toe-up pattern and a stitch pattern I found in Barbara Walker's Second Treasury that was submitted by someone in the tiny little borough where I live. I have the first one done.



The yarn for this is Sundara's hand-dyed Leafy colorway. (I am in love with this yarn.) I'll have a close up of the stitch pattern when the pair is done. In the meantime, marvel at how the color works


So, although I can apparently knit the same thing twice in order to finish a sock, I don't know that I'll be able to do the same pair of socks twice. But that's not such a bad thing, right? And it's a myth that lightning can't strike twice in the same place..