You Can Take It With You

Until recently, I didn’t knit much in public.  When I traveled for work in the 1970s and 80s, I knitted on planes, but that was when the only hazard was being hijacked to Cuba. No one troubled much back then about the dangers of knitting needles as lethal weapons.  And crushed against the window with only one person to see that I was knitting, it didn’t feel very “public”.  Most of the time, I knitted alone in the quiet of my home, as I pretty much still do.  After seeing others’ portable projects, I finally planned one solely for public knitting:  A simple scarf for Ed that is now done, except for weaving in the ends (why bother now—he can’t wear it anyway).   I carried it with me to various doctor’s appointments, and it worked pretty well to keep my anxiety low.  

I find it ironic that since the knitting kept me happily amused in the waiting room, I seldom waited very long.  In fact, it almost seemed as if the doctor was intending to interrupt the tranquility of my knitting with the annoyance of dealing with a medical issue. 

The current UFOs are too complicated for portable knitting. The blocked pieces of the basketweave sweater are ready to have the shoulders joined and neck rows knit. The Thora cables have about 20 rows to go for the complicated Viking knot, and I have to follow a chart to complete them.   

So midweek I started a sock project that I can take with me on Monday when I get my bone density tested and have the results interpreted.  (Now is when I hope all that weight lifting has paid off.) One of my Ravelry sock groups, Sock Knitters Anonymous, is knitting a Nancy Bush sock for June, and that narrowed my search for a portable project. I selected Conwy, from Knitting On the Road, and you can see some of the lovely FOs from this Ravelry link.

The only problem with this design was getting it started.  I played a bit fast and loose with the gauge swatch, using the size 1 (2.5 mm) needles in the pattern, and only knitting about six rows, flat.  And actually, I did get the gauge the pattern specified.  But I have skinny ankles, and I wasn’t getting enough negative ease to keep the socks up.  So I started anew with size 0’s (2.0 mm), and things are working out pretty well--four evenings later.

We had a week of dreary, rainy weather, and outdoor photos were impossible or fleeting, and so I had to tinker with the color on this picture.  The Shibui yarn is a beautiful magenta, and I do like it.

The sock is top down, but it has shaping at the top of the 8-inch leg.  Following the idea of a Ravelry knitter, I moved up the decreases so that they fall closer to the top, and the leg is narrower just below my shin.  I have one more decrease to go before this qualifies as a truly simple knit, and then it is back to sweaters. 

Comments

[Linda M.]

What a beautiful color! I have some of that yarn in a soft green (if I recall correctly!) I knit on my current sock-in-progress yesterday at the local film society's screening. The sock lives in my bag and I work on it whenever there are a few moments available.

[Robin]

I love knitting on the go - I also find myself planning out what I can take with me and not have to concentrate on too much. For me, it's often sleeves knit in the round on Magic Loop - not much different than socks or scarves in terms of portability.

[tiennie]

It's a gorgeous color!