Some time in late 2017, in the ramp up to the Christmas gifting season - so probably somewhere in October or early November - I suggested to my sister that a couple of skeins of self-striping sock yarn would make a great gift for me. I'd seen the fun striped socks other people have been producing with these yarns here and there, for many years now, and my feelings about the fun of these projects have changed over time.
At first - in 2007 or thereabouts - I gave a mental shrug, writing them off as not super interesting because the sock is a plain stockinette sock. Snore.
Some years later - some time in 2011, if my Rav project history is any indicator - I had warmed considerably to the enduring basic charm of a stockinette sock (I think the tipping point was figuring out that these were great for cranking out while reading), and was starting to gaze appreciatively at the self-striping yarns, but worried about the colour combinations being garish, or not me.
More recently, I've come around to the idea that wild socks are not a terrible thing. So I sent my sister over to Gauge Dye Works for a look.
Come Christmas morning, I got my wish - two faboo skeins of their Merino Twist: Classic Stripe yarn. I also got a bonus - two additional skeins, complete with a Pretty, please request from my sister.
I've mentioned Pretty, please before, right? This is a thing my sister started way back in 2011. She will occasionally be moved to purchase yarn, despite the fact that she does not knit. Instead, she will hand the yarn over to me and say, Pretty, please. This means she wants me to turn it into something she will love. (She actually has a rather considerable stash at my house now.)
So my plan was to whip out a pair of socks for me right out of the gate, but my sister said something, no longer remember what exactly, but it left me with the impression that her handknit sock collection is a little lacking right now. (I really don't know what it was that would have given me that idea, and now that I think about it more, I suspect it can't be true, because two of the pairs of socks I whacked out on the Tour last year went to her.) I got one of those protective-big-sister mental cramps, and decided I could do a pair for her first. It was Christmas - a time for giving and generosity. I wound up the Purple Haze yarn and away I went.
Well. I was expecting these to be a fun trip, but they were wildly fun. There is something deeply and immensely satisfying in completing each stripe, a gratification that then prompts you to haul off and knit the next one. And the next one. And the one after that. It's just so captivating. The time just seemed to sail past, and I would look down at the piece in my hands and go, Well, that was sure productive! The continuous progression of stripes served to mark out how much had been accomplished. It was thrilling.
And then, when the second one striped up exactly like the first one? MAGIC.
Once that pair was done, I was fulfilled, reached for the yarn I'd wound up for me - and then got caught in a wave of sisterly gratitude or something, and instead wound up her second skein and hauled off on that.
Now these are nearly done too. The striping is not as precisely matched up as the last pair - I goofed a teensy bit in picking my starting point, but we can obsess over those details another day. I'm still having a hard time putting these down for other things. (Like sleeping.) I'm so wildly entertained by them, I'm starting to feel a little melancholy over their impending completion. What am I going to do once they're all knit up?
Well, obviously I'll move on to the yarns that are actually for me. But that won't last forever - I've only got two skeins, and my birthday isn't for months. What then?
Oh. Right. I've got plenty of non-striping sock yarn to keep me occupied for a good while. Plus, I may have ordered some more. Ahem.
You know, I'll probably be okay.
At first - in 2007 or thereabouts - I gave a mental shrug, writing them off as not super interesting because the sock is a plain stockinette sock. Snore.
Some years later - some time in 2011, if my Rav project history is any indicator - I had warmed considerably to the enduring basic charm of a stockinette sock (I think the tipping point was figuring out that these were great for cranking out while reading), and was starting to gaze appreciatively at the self-striping yarns, but worried about the colour combinations being garish, or not me.
More recently, I've come around to the idea that wild socks are not a terrible thing. So I sent my sister over to Gauge Dye Works for a look.
Come Christmas morning, I got my wish - two faboo skeins of their Merino Twist: Classic Stripe yarn. I also got a bonus - two additional skeins, complete with a Pretty, please request from my sister.
I've mentioned Pretty, please before, right? This is a thing my sister started way back in 2011. She will occasionally be moved to purchase yarn, despite the fact that she does not knit. Instead, she will hand the yarn over to me and say, Pretty, please. This means she wants me to turn it into something she will love. (She actually has a rather considerable stash at my house now.)
So my plan was to whip out a pair of socks for me right out of the gate, but my sister said something, no longer remember what exactly, but it left me with the impression that her handknit sock collection is a little lacking right now. (I really don't know what it was that would have given me that idea, and now that I think about it more, I suspect it can't be true, because two of the pairs of socks I whacked out on the Tour last year went to her.) I got one of those protective-big-sister mental cramps, and decided I could do a pair for her first. It was Christmas - a time for giving and generosity. I wound up the Purple Haze yarn and away I went.
Well. I was expecting these to be a fun trip, but they were wildly fun. There is something deeply and immensely satisfying in completing each stripe, a gratification that then prompts you to haul off and knit the next one. And the next one. And the one after that. It's just so captivating. The time just seemed to sail past, and I would look down at the piece in my hands and go, Well, that was sure productive! The continuous progression of stripes served to mark out how much had been accomplished. It was thrilling.
And then, when the second one striped up exactly like the first one? MAGIC.
Once that pair was done, I was fulfilled, reached for the yarn I'd wound up for me - and then got caught in a wave of sisterly gratitude or something, and instead wound up her second skein and hauled off on that.
Now these are nearly done too. The striping is not as precisely matched up as the last pair - I goofed a teensy bit in picking my starting point, but we can obsess over those details another day. I'm still having a hard time putting these down for other things. (Like sleeping.) I'm so wildly entertained by them, I'm starting to feel a little melancholy over their impending completion. What am I going to do once they're all knit up?
Well, obviously I'll move on to the yarns that are actually for me. But that won't last forever - I've only got two skeins, and my birthday isn't for months. What then?
Oh. Right. I've got plenty of non-striping sock yarn to keep me occupied for a good while. Plus, I may have ordered some more. Ahem.
You know, I'll probably be okay.
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