Warning Labels

Warning labels can be found on almost everything we purchase. My coffee cup warns me that my coffee is hot. My sleeping pills warn me that they may cause drowsiness and my new knitting needles came with a warning.

"Knitting needles are intended for knitting purposes only. The knitting needles are sharp and should be handled with care, stored with the pointed ends down, out of the reach of children and should not be left on the floor. The knitting needles should also be carried with the pointed end down. The knitting needles should not be used in a moving vehicle due to the possibility they could cause the puncture of the person or airbags in case of an accident. The needles should not be stuck in the ear or in other body parts"

I choose to ignore the warning to not knit in the car. Long road trips are the perfect time for uninterrupted knitting.

Leaving needles on the floor while knitting is attached can accidentally cause the knitting to come off the needles when someone trips over the yarn. Rather than putting all those stitches back on the needle, I think I'll store the knitting....with the points down.

There should be a clarification on the final warning.
"If I catch anyone sticking my knitting needles in his ear or any other body part, the damage that I inflict upon him will be far greater than any self inflicted damage."

So why doesn't sock yarn come with a warning?

"This product may cause uncontrollable shopping. Sock yarn must be kept in large groups for ultimate happiness. If knit, it will require the purchasing of several more skeins to replace the skein that was removed from the stash. Single sock syndrome, also known as second sock syndrome may result from use of this product."

I like my socks to match

So it will not be a surprise to anyone who knows me, that I go to great lengths to make my socks match.

When I am knitting with a self striping yarn, I pull the yarn out of two balls until they match and then start knitting. If I am using a 100 gram ball, I will knit two pair of socks because I know that the colours for the second pair are already lined up.

Friday night, as I was frantically starting another Christmas gift, I started to organise the yarn. After spreading half a ball of yarn all over the floor, I realised that one ball needed to be re-wound . The patterning was reversed. One ball started from the outside, and one from the inside. A minor delay and I was determined to make the socks match.

I knit all day Saturday, and all day Sunday. I took a break to knit a pair of mittens and continued on the socks.

Sunday evening, as I was working on the foot of the second sock, I realised that stripes on the socks weren't lining up.

All my great plans for perfectly matched socks were gone. There was a knot...in the first sock...The patterning had been changed.



I thought about ripping the first sock back but I will not.
I believe that the recipient of these socks will not mind that that they don't match. In fact, if his sister doesn't tell him, he will probably never know.

The next step? Wearing mismatched socks? Deliberately making only one sock of each pair? Only time will tell.

December 12, 2008

Panic sets in as I realise that I have yet to start my Christmas knitting. How long does it take to knit three, no four pair of socks and one pair of mittens. The scarves have been deleted from the list.

December 13, 2008

Panic avoided. I remembered to check the bin of knitting where I have been placing finished socks, hats and baby sweaters. There were fortunately, socks for two in the bin. Two pair of socks are doable in 12 days, even with another pair of mitts. Besides, OK is too warm for mitts anyway!

Insomnia

The other night I was lying awake, trying to fall back to sleep, but couldn't. Strange thoughts kept running through my mind.

What was I concerned about that was preventing me from sleeping? Was it the political scheming that was happening in Ottawa? No, not that.

Was it the fear of a economic downturn and the falling stock market? No, not that either.

Perhaps the quickly approaching holiday and the knowledge that many things have to happen before December 25. Close, but not that either.

It was the yarn. It had been sitting quietly in the Stash for the last year but decided that it was time to be heard.

"We are here and we demand to be knit! You have the pattern. You picked all the colours of yarn. You even started this sweater once and ripped it out because you didn't like the way it looked. Enough waiting. We want to become that sweater. NOW!"

I tried to reason with the yarn. I explained patiently that since Christmas was coming, I needed to be knitting socks for people.

The yarn didn't care.

I tried again. I vowed that I would start the sweater as soon as I finished my Berry-beautiful shawl. No, that just wasn't good enough. No compromise would work. The next morning, I cast on 286 stitches.




Saga Rose Cardigan from Jamieson's Shetland Knitting Book 3.

I have also been knitting the Berry-Beautiful shawl. Don't tell the sweater!