regarding socks and toilet paper

Here's the thing.

Contrary to all possible reasoning, I decided to knit some socks this past year. I know, I know (and I mean that in both directions -- I know this is not as hard as I think it will be, and I know this is much harder than I think it will be). Socks are very useful things, and wool socks are absolutely unbeatable in the cold. But socks take a long time to knit, you see, and one always runs the danger of burn-out after finishing the first. One sock -- where in the world does that leave you? Hopping around on one well-heeled (uhum) foot, or even worse, sporting a handknit sock on one foot and a stray polypropylene from the clearance bin on the other. Gives me the shivers just thinking about it.

Even if one does manage to finish off two socks, there is the inescapable stage wherein the socks are then worn on the feet. Around our house "on the feet" only rarely means "in conjunction with shoes," which very quickly leads to the inevitable "socks with holes." It seems silly, really, to spend so much effort on something that is going to take much longer to make than it will to destroy.

But then again, I lead a domino life, right? In which case, knitting socks makes perfectly reasonable sense.

So after years of avoidance, this winter socks went on the needles.

Consistent with my general approach to knitting, I went for small in the first trial run, and even better I went for Two At a Time. And since the five year-old wanted pink and purple, I of course pulled out orange yarn and went to work.

That was six months ago.

I got as far as turning the heels and then the baby went mobile. His favorite place in the whole world is the bathroom (of course), and his second favorite place is standing up next to me trying to undo whatever I'm doing. The good news is that I've got two socks at the same point; the bad news is that they may end up being over-the-heel leg warmers.

Either way, I really need to finish these socks off. My mother-in-law picked up some more merino for me this spring and I've got all of this waiting in the wings for when that baby decides that whatever I'm doing is much too boring for a busy boy. I'm thinking a sweater or two for the winter (or the next winter) (or the next). Maybe something to match the socks . . . hmmmm, orange and green. How would your kids feel about a pumpkin-themed sweater?