holiday knitting

Handspun Blue Faced Leicester (superwash) socks
roving from pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com -- blackthorn
more woolen than not-spun, 2 ply dk weight
Started: 23 October 2007, walkaround
Finished: in time for Xmas 2007
US 3 dpns, 4

I did a lot of holiday knitting (for me) this time around, everything having a special place in my heart. These socks I carried around with me for months, sneaking in rounds standing in long lines at the grocery store, waiting at the broadway curb, fighting sleep on the red couch in the living room... wherever I could sneak in the reified prayers of love and longing onto my needles I would. At this point, knitting's a reaction of my hands; the thoughts while knitting these instead were love, wishes of warm feet and a good year ahead and behind.



They're so simple though... but just between you and me? After conquering lots of technique, yarns and FOs it feels the best to just knit... round around round, left alone in the circularity of silence and reaction, reflex. I love learning and trying new things but it's the home of stockinette, the simplicity of things, the calm after the storm in one's arms that I find true solace and joy in. It is the simple pieces that shine in my heart because I'm not thinking of patterns when I knit, but the loved ones they're intended for.



I feel spoiled being able to not only knit gifts, but to use yarn I've spun myself for it. Relatively, this is one of the older yarns from my handspun sock yarn stash and lately I'm spinning a long draw that has more tension in the singles, less soft and poufy, much less fuzzy/woolen looking than this one was. As much as I like the look of smoother/worsted spun yarns, both in pictures and in that nagging sense in the back of my mind that my yarns like these are less "professional" than the slick examples across blogland... lord they are warm. And fuzzy soft. And a joy to squish your toes around in. Perfect for colder weather than the one I'm enjoying (pray no rain today for me-- my son's getting a shiny new red bike that I didn't handmake ;)), for those times one needs to feel held and warm and loved.



I only worry they're too similar to a better photographed pair, despite being dk to the fine fingering of the previous. Too much purple, too easily influenced, too eager to please. Doesn't matter, doesn't matter since both come from the same place in me, that same reaction that has become reflex with time, deeper seated in my heart and hands.

Merry Christmas. Miss you.

:)