sticks and string

"Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises."

- Elizabeth Zimmermann

The self-striping yarn above is "Bullfinch" from the British Birds series created by West Yorkshire Spinners. The socks were made BSD (before shoulder dislocation) for a special New Years gift, then not mailed til February 22nd because I got ridiculously derailed trying to find the card (a painting from Yosemite) specifically intended to accompany the socks. After I finally put them in the mail (with a different card, an ink drawing of one of my daylilies), they were bounced up and down the eastern seaboard for a week before arriving at their destination, 50 miles east of my house.

Here are the next British Birds cast on as soon as I could start knitting again PSD (post shoulder dislocation) in mid-January:

"Wood Pigeon." They've got some pretty birds in Britain, haven't they?

And here's the waffle-stitch leg of one of the socks I'm knitting now: "Owl." If you've never seen self-striping yarn, there's a peek at the skein beneath the zipper:

This yarn series has become a favorite since I discovered the "Mallard" and "Pheasant" colors a few years ago. There are still a few more British Birds I may knit with someday, including Kingfisher and Green(!) Woodpecker.

The sock pattern (using the word loosely) I've come up with for simple distraction knitting: a ribbed cuff in either the stripes or a contrasting solid, a cushy waffle-stitch leg, a slipstitch heel (striped or contrasting), and a smooth stockinette foot. The toe design varies: a star toe (as in both pairs above) if there's a chance I'll have to rip it back to resize the sock post-gifting and/or if I want to have stripes right to the end; a grafted/kitchener toe otherwise.

Here's a close view of one of my favorite things about knitting socks:

After making the 90-degree "turn" at the bottom of the heel, three directions of stitches blend the heel and the foot together in a continuous fabric. It's so functional and elegant.

I imagine there's a lot of "through all crises" knitting going on these days. Not exclusively in the US but we're doing our share. At least I hope we are. It's a productive  form of distraction. From pain, from sleeplessness, from worry.

Emphasis on "productive."

Onward.

~~~~~