Break-up SOX

[x-posted at Two Pointy Sticks]

...I have another friend who also knits. We'll call her Ginny. Like me, Ginny knits for pleasure... and distraction... and stress-relief therapy. I've noticed though that, unlike me, Ginny becomes even more prolific in times of emotional upheaval. She says the best thing about a break-up is... well, the SOX, of course. Break-up SOX.

If she breaks up with her beau-du-jour/semaine/mois (it's never the other way around), or if some former friend slides right off the sliding friendship scale... suddenly, the needles are out and clicking. Before you know it, there are SOX.

Warm toes, cold heart, I guess. And why not? Who isn't cheered up by a good pair of simple socks. And in cashmere? So. Much. The. Better.

I am not a sock-knitter by nature, but I like socks, and have been known to tuck them gleefully into my mukluks in the winter. Knitting them makes for good, fast therapy, too -- think of the huge boost in serotonin that comes with every completed pair! On a whim I started knitting a pair last week, and now I may have to do this every year, emotional upheaval or no emotional upheaval.

Behold! Cashmere Break-Up SOX (without the break-up):



These were knit with 2 skeins of Estelle in Fiery Sunset. I made slight modifications to the Simple Sock Pattern from Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles to incorporate a tiny chevron-like rib (ETA: Pattern modifications are in the next post).

Toes this toasty probably don't much care how broken the heart might be.





Close-up of the second Break-up Sock in Estelle, colourway Atropos.



Everyone's got an opinion on how many chaps a girl can date at once, but one thing we can all agree on is that there's no such thing as having too much SOX.

SAFE SOX (of course).

Tori

[x-posted at Two Pointy Sticks]

How many of you have ever sat in quiet contemplation (or rush hour traffic, or in the queue for groceries, or smack in the middle of any busy-but-not-mentally-taxing activity) and suddenly remembered a friend from long ago and wondered, what on earth ever happened to So-and-So? How many of you have raised a glass this holiday season to Auld Lang Syne and thought of someone you'd lost touch with over the years? Did you feel the impulse to find them, or did you silently decide to resign them to the Land of Lost Anecdotes? ("Alas, poor [Name Here], I knew him well," etc etc)

How many of you then seized the moment and sought that person out? In this day and age, finding that old pal can be just as easy as a quick Google and a phone call or email. Plenty of us let that moment pass. I know I have. Many, many times over, blaming work, household chores, a tight schedule -- all those clichéd excuses.

Did you ever wonder what would happen if you seized the moment, that impulse to reconnect, and just did it?

I did. Right in the middle of seaming up a sweater, Chibi needle poised in mid-air, I had a flash of Tori, a friend from university who had always been bright and full of laughter -- and who knit like a fiend while she studied, finishing almost a sweater a week during finals in our senior year. I was the maid of honor at her wedding, which was the last time I saw her. That was 14 years ago, before travel, time, and career paths came between us.

By the time I had finished seaming up, I was online to begin my search and after a good half hour, I'd found her! In the Netherlands, with her husband and two beautiful boys. Work had brought me briefly to their town just a few years ago when they had first moved. I remember standing at the train station on the platform one cold evening thinking how nice it would have been to have friends in such a lovely little town. We must have been only a few minutes walk apart then. And to think neither of us ever knew!

Life is too short to let valued friendships slip away from us. In this day and age technology makes the world small enough (and the task easy enough) to keep in touch with the people we care about. It only takes a phone call, or an email, or a text message every now and then. If there's one resolution I hope to maintain this year, it's to strengthen these ties to family and friends. Because without them, what sort of life can this possibly be?

So with that said, I give you... Tori, named after, obviously, Tori, who wore a lot of this colour in our four years at dear old uni:



(Tori was knit up as a variation on Lois, using Pippin in a modified Hill of Tara (#59) with splashes of leprechaunic green for interest, and Louisa Harding's Sari Ribbon in colourway #2 for embellishment with a bit of 'Renaissance' glam.)



So you tell me, "should auld acquaintance be forgot"?

(I hope not!)

Cuteness!

[x-posted at Two Pointy Sticks]

A sorrow shared is but half the trouble, but a joy that is shared is a joy made double. -- old Swedish proverb

And since you all know how I like to share...

Here is two-and-almost-a-half month old Hana in Toronto, looking sporty in a cashmere raglan baby boatneck in Highland Heather. (Many thanks to Hana's mum and dad for sending on these adorable pics!)







Each sweater is made with 2 skeins of Pippin (100% aran weight cashmere). (Colourways above: [left to right] Fiery Sunset, Highland Heather, Water Lilies)