Simple Gifts

Give someone a pair of socks, and you warm her feet for a day.  Teach someone to knit socks, and you warm her feet for a lifetime.                                                                                         
The Langworthy Library Knitting Association began nearly two years ago when Denise wandered into the library and knowing Jane-the-librarian was a knitter, asked for lessons in socks.  The upshot was the birth of the Knitting Association, and a pattern, Denise's sock, that Jane has graciously agreed to share.

Denise's Sock is a good, basic sock that will warm the tootsies in a variety of yarns: plain, variegated, self-patterning.  You can add your own touches--I usually do a 2x2 rib at the top for at least an inch. I learned to make socks from this pattern, too, and I hope you will use it and wear it in good health. Thank you and brava to Jane! The ramifications of her gift are far-reaching, delightful, and warm. In her gesture is a lesson for us all.

Jane Green
knitting a sock

Alfie eyes one of "Denise's socks" suspiciously.

The more things change...

Have you ever noticed how the crazier the world gets, the more you want to knit? If the situations in the Mideast, Africa, South Asia, Haiti, and most of Latin America weren't desperate enough, there's so much local mayhem--governmental, economic, social, culinary--that an ostrich's view of the world starts to look pretty scenic.

But wait, there's more!  I'm married to someone who likes to burn up the yard at least once a year.

Sure, why not?  And, being a good scout, he used only one match. Silly me for thinking there might be safer ways to get rid of weeds than a good old controlled burn, right? QED: the house behind the fiery field in the photo is still standing.

Here's a close-up of my pendant et après feu self-patterning sock.  I found it comforting to knit intensely and stare deeply into the fibers while the front yard was under incineration.

On a more amiable note, Quentin's friend Orla arrived yesterday, length of visit unspecified, but based on Q's rather attentive behavior, I sense she may be here for a while.

Orla hails from China by way of Providence.  Like a 1940s movie talent scout, I discovered her, you might say, hanging out at the sign of Frog and Toad on Hope Street.

Local boy makes good

So there we were, last night, sitting and knitting, as per usual with one exception:  Gordon. Having read about us in the Wood River Press (edition of 11/25/10) he was eager to join up with kindred souls.

Of course we wanted a show-and-tell.  He'd fortunately brought a pair of mitts and a hat of his own design, from yarn spun by his mother from locally-raised fiber animals.

Yesterday he worked on a scarf of mixed-fiber, Kool-Aid dyed (by himself) yarn (spun by his mother).  He told us he learned to knit five years ago, while recovering from surgery.

When not knitting, he works at a convenience store in town and is in the National Guard. We hope he'll become a regular member of the Langworthy Library Knitting Association!

Thanksgiving leftovers

are the best part, as we all know. Herewith some additional knitting projects that were under construction on Knit Something Day:

Sheila D. of East Providence RI, a top-down sweater 

Joan W. of Weston, MA, the start of a Suri Alpaca throw 

The yarns in the first two photos are strong arguments for the chicken-or-egg world of knitting inspiration.  How can anyone look at these beauteous fibers and not want to knit something immediately?

Then there are perpetual motion knitters, like Denise of the Langworthy Library Knitting Association. She's actually been retained by a friend to knit twenty cotton dishcloths from a cone of color-slubbed natural cotton yarn, as presents for the friend's extended family!

In addition, Denise, currently recuperating from surgery, has been spending her non-dishcloth-knitting time with a variegated fuchsia scarf

and these wonderful socks, a present for her doctor.  (Seriously, this might be a great way to reduce the high cost of medical care in the U.S.--hand-knitted socks for all medical personnel!)

Artemis

Artemis, one of Denise's two resident felines, is in awe of her grandmère's productivity.

Gentle readers, we hope you celebrated Knit Something and Buy Nothing Days, and the National Day of Listening, all of which occurred on November 26th, in a heartwarming way.

Coma weekend

It's that time of year when my brain seems to go into hibernation, while I'm apparently living my life. Thanksgiving was a grande bouffe at the home of ever-generous neighbors who thoughtfully provided an artistically-personalized twenty-pound shopping bag of leftovers for every guest, lest they suffer from a dearth of nourishment after the main meal. Eyeing the bottom layer of this gift o' love-- a Tupperware container of English trifle, a bag of Italian cookies, a hefty slice of gingerbread buche, a slab of pumpkin pie, a nine-million calorie hunk of cheesecake with cherry topping--I knew I had to do something drastic. So I ate the cheesecake for breakfast on Knit Something Day, then trotted downstairs to the neighbors' apartment, to return the cookies, trifle, and buche--but not the pie, turkey, stuffing, and large container of side vegetables--thereby maintaining the fiction that I'm trying to follow a moderate diet. (Meanwhile I ate the pie in small increments over three days, further supporting the fiction of moderation.)

What did I do this weekend, besides eat and knit? That is the question. On Knit Something Day I zipped through Deborah Newton's Cornflower Mitts pattern, and when I thought I'd almost finished, discovered, to my chagrin, that I'd made two right-hand mitts and no left.

Well, everything happens for a reason, right? Obviously I love this pattern, which I'm giving to a friend--love it so much that I wanted my own pair. I'm about a third through the first left-hand mitt. (I keep wondering, though, that if I hadn't eaten that grotesque slice of cheesecake and my brain wasn't all befuddled by the sugar-fat-cream triumvirate, mightn't I have read the pattern correctly in the first place?)

This, my friends, is a great design! Knit on number nines, it's speedy, and the rich detailing of cables and three kinds of ribs provides texture, interest, and extra warmth. (I'm sure that the thickness of the cable on the back of the hand adds extra heat retention, and the ribs make the mitts grippy.)

But enough about me...I wanted to find out what my knitting friends were knitting on Knit Something Day. Below, a partial visual record:

Susie B, NYC, lace-edged woman's hat.

Caroline B, Connecticut, twisted cable scarf of handspun, hand-dyed wool.

Carol M. of Connecticut Yarn and Wool,  Haddam, Connecticut, Christmas stocking from  local merino sheep.

The Knitting Goddess, Providence RI, a big eyelet swatch.

And more to follow, after I catch up on my Zzzzzzzs. Please send me photos of what you were knitting on November 26th, 2010, and they shall appear on this blog in the immediate future.

It's Knit Something Day!

and Buy Nothing Day and The National Day of Listening.

Quentin bought nothing.  He wore his new garter-stitch scarf.  And he listened to the Wood River where there is now no bridge.

Different strokes on Thanksgiving

Be mindful that there are many ways to express thankfulness.