the similarities between knitting marathons and running socks
So far I have knitted (knat?) two pair of socks. I gave both of them away to people I love. I will give away many pairs of socks, but only to people who I know will appreciate them.
I wrote about my first pair of socks already but here is a picture of my second pair:
It occurred to me that making socks is as addicting as running marathons (or half marathons or 5ks) can be. You make one pair after gathering up your courage to tackle the turning of the heel and the picking up of stitches for that so called gusset, or as I call it, "gasket". Then, encouraged, you race to the toes and maybe slow down a bit - but the end is in sight so you keep going. When you are done, for a while, you don't want to do the other one, but you do, because you can think of a million different things to do that will make the next pair even better....like knitting tighter (or looser) or doing the toe in a different way or making the ribbing longer and the sock come up higher on your leg, etc. So you want to finish the pair and start on the next one, maybe using different yarn, smaller needles and a different pattern.
When you run a marathon, you start out slowly for the first few miles (the ribbing). You are happy when you get to the half way point (the heel) and you settle in to the second half (heading to the toe). But it seems so long getting to the toe. You get tired of just knitting. You want to put it away for a while, but you keep on knitting because you know if you quit now you will never finish. Then when you see you have just a few more rows till you start decreasing you can see the end in site and you get your second wind and keep going.
After you finish the sock, and tie up all the loose ends, you sit back and look at your nice pair. Maybe you take a picture of them. Then you start thinking about the next pair you will make.
And the next marathon you will run. And how you can do better.
I wrote about my first pair of socks already but here is a picture of my second pair:
It occurred to me that making socks is as addicting as running marathons (or half marathons or 5ks) can be. You make one pair after gathering up your courage to tackle the turning of the heel and the picking up of stitches for that so called gusset, or as I call it, "gasket". Then, encouraged, you race to the toes and maybe slow down a bit - but the end is in sight so you keep going. When you are done, for a while, you don't want to do the other one, but you do, because you can think of a million different things to do that will make the next pair even better....like knitting tighter (or looser) or doing the toe in a different way or making the ribbing longer and the sock come up higher on your leg, etc. So you want to finish the pair and start on the next one, maybe using different yarn, smaller needles and a different pattern.
When you run a marathon, you start out slowly for the first few miles (the ribbing). You are happy when you get to the half way point (the heel) and you settle in to the second half (heading to the toe). But it seems so long getting to the toe. You get tired of just knitting. You want to put it away for a while, but you keep on knitting because you know if you quit now you will never finish. Then when you see you have just a few more rows till you start decreasing you can see the end in site and you get your second wind and keep going.
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| Me in St. George (my 34th marathon?), at mile 24, "the final toe decreasing" |
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| finishing up the heel flap on sock pair number 3 - onward to the long stretch of knitting the toe |
And the next marathon you will run. And how you can do better.
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