You Gotta Have Faith

I am not the most patient of people. It isn't that I am not patient, exactly, but more that I am pessimistic. I was getting pessimistic about hearing from grad school, so I had started making arrangements to take classes post-bac and making the most of things and preparing to have a stronger application the next time. I had just sent the e-mail to the admissions department to get that ball rolling when I got the envelope out of the mail box with my acceptance letter in it. Actually it wasn't just an envelope. Bad news comes in one of those generic little envelopes. Good news comes in one of those gigantic manila jobs. So, when I saw the oversized envelope, looked at the return address, I could barely get my fingers to work to open the thing.

My life has taken another big step forward. On the stress scale, I have gotten two of the big ones in the past few months. Good things are as stressful as bad things, especially if you are a tad bit on the obsessive side like I am. I was already fantasizing about my classes and all small projects that I could work on during class to keep me focused. Then it occurred to me that perhaps knitting with five double points during class was not the best way to proceed. I have dropped my share of needles and let's face it, a dropped needle, especially if it is metal, does not make one's knitting inconspicuous.

I have toyed with the idea of learning to do sock on two circs or the one circ magic loop method. So, I asked a friend of mine who is into knitting socks about as much as I am to show me the magic loop method. I wasn't immediately enamored. Actually, I wasn't sure I would be able to knit a whole sock that way, but then again the heat and excitement of getting into grad school had melted some of the synapses. I thought the whole process was a bit fussy. I know, as if using five needles isn't fussy.

I kept with it despite futzing with the cord all the while fortifying myself with several thoughts. No more bobbing for needles as the car speeds down the interstate. Let's face it, skull crashing against the dash board or other car interior is probably best left to teenagers. No more having to locate the renegade needle in the sock yarn patch. More room for yarn in my knitting bag - because those needles are so heavy. One more way to keep Christmas sock knitting interesting.

After a while, though, I began to wonder why I hadn't tried this before. I thought of all the vacations with stalled knitting because a needle had rolled under the front seat. I thought about the possibility of knitting two socks at the same time, eliminating the whole second sock doesn't match problem. Then I thought about other, non-sock possibilities, hats and fingerless mitts. I could really get into this.

I have yet to start wondering when I am going to hit the wall on all the changes that have come my way. My life and my knitting have changed. I just have to have faith that at some point I don't wake up wondering what I was thinking.