Summer of Socks and Books

Since the beginning of June, I have knit nothing but socks. Most of the socks have been of the plain variety. With all that has been going on, I realize that my knitting brain hasn’t been capable of much else. While part of me longs to pick up a shawl or something larger, more substantial, the part of me that needs the seemingly mindless repetitive motion rules the day.

Part of me sees this current obsession as a challenge to see how many skeins of self-patterning yarn I can knit before Labor Day. The thought of getting six or eight pair of socks knit up at once seems crazily optimistic and completely doable. Then there are the ¾ finished pairs of socks that need only a foot or a toe to add to the count. I n my stash the possibilities are endless.

The only impediment to the Great Socking of Summer 2009 has been my current obsession with reading. Since I am still of the prehistoric school and prefer paper and ink, knitting is not always an accompaniment to my reading.

While my knitting has been mindless, my reading has been less so. Since June, I have read 10 of the 11 books in the Dresden Files series, I will cop to them not being high art. In between, I have read Follett’s doorstop World Withougt End. (It is the type of book that makes teenagers hate literature and seasoned readers cry.); The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (A very good, if predictable story. The story is so good you don’t really mind the predictability.); The Lace Reader (Fiber arts plus mystery – a wicked good combination.); and The 19th Wife (Mormon fundamentalists, murders, and redemption.). Next up is Lamb, a gift for my brother – and The Red Wolf Conspiracy.

I used to believe that mindless knitting or reading would cause craft and mental stagnation. I used to believe that mindless knitting and reading disrespected the craft. Neither is true.

Knitting is only knitting and more than knitting. Each sock plain or patterned is better than the last because I have approximately 1200 more stitches of knitting experience. This repetition and patience make a master knitter. It is this repetition that creates socks with machines even tension. It is this repetition that has discouraged many a new knitter, but those of us who have pressed on realize it is the only way to knitting competence.

In much the same way reading is only reading and more than reading. Recently my Mom was shocked to discover I had some schlock in my bag. I will admit Highlander and Vampire pron (if I spelled it correctly, I would get blocked or appear next to Goth Hotties) is not the apex of writing craft. At the same time, I find myself in the story because reading isn’t necessarily about the words.

Reading is about story. Sometimes we adults need morality tales like Aesop’s fables or the story of David and Bathsheba from the Bible.

Recommendation aside…. Regardless of your religious persuasion, I would encourage taking a peek at the stories of David and Bathsheba; Ruth; Deborah and the Bride of Heber; and Dinah in the Old Testament. I have long been of the opinion that people who encourage their children to read the Bible have no idea of the sex, violence, intrigue, and soap opera qualities to some of the stories. It makes it difficult to take some of the theologically pontificating blowhards seriously when you suspect they haven’t read all the stories between the covers.

At other times, we adults need the equivalent of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or Xena – Warrior Princess. Life being what it is, sometimes you need to imagine what it would be like if some of the Rules of Life were a tiny bit flexible. Believe me there are days I wish they were more like bungee cord and I had a fairy godmother, a magic wand, a sword, knee boots and a metal bra.