S'sn & B'n

Yeah, that title is clear.

My friend and I had dinner then sat at our local coffee shop and did some S'sn (hemming) and B'n (whining). You know. Purl & Hurl. _titch and _itch. The two words we aren't allowed to print for fear of being accused of copyright infringement. Ess Enn Bee.

Yeah.

She worked on a needlepoint project while I was in sockland. I pity my friend. There was more bee-ing than ess-ing on her part because she's been fretting over this thing forever. She started it years ago with high hopes, then became bored with it about halfway through. It would be big enough for a throw pillow (if she ever finishes it). She keeps talking about the project in the wings that she can't wait to get to, yet she will not allow herself to toss the current one into either the frog pile (is there such a thing for needlepoint?) or in with the UFOs so she can work on the new one.

I see no point to this. I'm quite happy to abandon a project for a few days or decades (remember the Phoenix I just finished?) if I lose interest. Yes, I love to start projects. But I don't consider myself to have startitis. Rather, I enjoy having a lot of projects on the docket at once so I can jump around when the mood strikes me. I do finish them—eventually. But if I grow weary, I can stop myself and move on. One day I'll run across it and wonder why I ever put it down. That's the time to pick it up again and finish it.

Do you suffer from either Random Project Hopscotch like I do, or One At A Time Even If It Kills Me like my friend? Any advice for my friend? I told her tonight, either you hurry up and finish that so you can move onto something you actually enjoy, or I'll finish it FOR you, darn it! It stresses me—yes, actually causes me pain—to see her grumbling over this piece. Poor thing, she sits at the table rummaging through her pockets, anything to avoid picking up the project.

As for me, I discovered that socks and TV do not mix (at certain points), nor do socks and conversation (at certain points). When one is working the seven inches of "cuff", or the part between the heel and toe, TV or conversation is fine. But TV and chatter should be avoided at all costs when one is calculating the heel flap, the gusset, or doing three-needle bind off on the toe. I wish I had photos, but I didn't have the camera with me and I fixed my errors already. So you'll have to settle for description and imagination.

Sock #1: Fascine Braid Sock, in Mountain Colors "Crazy Woman" First of the pair intended for the niece who did not make it to Xmas this year. I'd finished the toe while watching TV a week or so ago and woven in my ends. It looked a little funny; the seam kind of puckered but I assumed it would even out after blocking. It came with me tonight to serve as a reference if I started its mate, and to show off to my friend. Tonight it still looked funny. Suddenly I figured out why.

The toe seam was running perpendicular to the toeline. Ooops.

Frog, frog, frog.

The seam is running in the proper direction now, but it still looks a little wonky to me. Hopefully blocking will fix it. If not, well, it'll be inside a shoe.

Sock #2: Leslie's Double Eyelet Socks in Mountain Colors "Wildflower" Yes, I'm still working on these. At the rate I'm going, I'll be 50 before I can wear them (it's a ways off yet). Another first of a pair. I successfully did the heel flap and turned the heel. Then I began the gusset. Then I got hopelessly lost because the pattern said to knit to within 3 stitches of the end of needle #1, K2 tog K1, knit in eyelet pattern across needle #2, then K1 SSK knit to the end of needle #3— and somehow, I had five needles in use.

Erm...

You do realize I've done socks before and know what I'm supposed to be doing here. For some reason, conversation must throw me completely off. I sorted it out eventually but I kept dropping stitches, having my needles slide out of the row, miscounting... eeesh. All I got done on this sock in three hours' time was the last inch of heel flap, turning the heel, picking up the gusset, and about an inch of actual foot.

I started Sock #2 in early October. It's now February and that is as far as I've gotten. Oh, the shame.

It didn't help that we were trying not to laugh at the real-life Beavis and Butthead sitting at the next table. Heh-heh. Heh-heh. FIRE! FIRE! Heh-heh.


The saddest thing of all is what I think they did. I could be wrong, but instinct says otherwise. The boys sat there for a good hour or so, chatting. They didn't purchase any food or coffee. They weren't reading. They came in with nothing. They didn't peruse the shelves for anything to read. There is nothing inherently wrong with this.

However.

It was 15 minutes before closing. The place had gradually emptied out until it was down to them and us and the two workers (one is the owner). One worker was cleaning up the service area. The owner was vaccuuming and straightening. The owner disappeared into the office. The two boys suddenly got up from their table and headed over to the comics section. My Spidey-sense woke up and I tried to knit while watching from my peripheral vision.

They huddled around the comics section for a couple of moments then turned and walked casually—sort of—towards the door. One of the boys had the distinctly stiff posture of someone who had something stuffed down the front of his shirt and was trying to keep there while walking pseudo-nonchalantly out the door. The shop is quite long and I didn't actually see him take anything—it was just an instinct based on my observation and their timing.

It seemed as if they had been lying in wait for the perfect moment. I asked my friend if she thought they might have taken something. She said their timing did seem a little odd.

Perhaps we should we have alerted the counter clerk. We didn't. I'm not sure why. Maybe because we had no verifiable proof that they'd taken anything. Maybe because we didn't want to cause a scene. It concerns me that we didn't say something. It concerns me that these boys would shoplift (if they did).

Maybe they left with what they came in with and my suspicions were unfounded.

But of course, we'll never know.

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Labels: Christmas knitting, WIP

posted by Jeanne @ 1:30 AM