Friday 30 November 2007

Still no knitting pictures

And no crochet pictures, no embroidery pictures. All I have today is words, and darn few of those. I'm working on socks still, because I really would like to get some small things done for Christmas, but these plain jane socks don't leave a lot of room for exciting pictures.

I have been thinking about toes though. I greatly prefer toe up socks. Part of it is that I am avoiding ribbing as a way to begin, but also it's the nature of a toe itself.

I don't use anyones fancy anything for a toe recipe. I just cast on 8-12 stitches and knit them one way, pick up the back loops and use that to knit down the other side, and then increase one stitch at either side till I have enough stitches. Its simple and produces a pleasing line of bumps at the toe. Some may not like it but I do.

But its more than starting with a few stitches. I like toes because its interesting to start with just a few small stitches, and magically watch it grow as you work around. I like that when I add stitches by working one in the front loop and one in the back loop, a lovely row of stitches forms up the side of the toe, to give it a little depth. I love how I can make this toe fit my very squarish toes, without even thinking about it. I love that I don't have to think about whether this is the round I increase, or work even.


Someday I might give a try to the Star Toe I keep reading about, someday I might vary toes by people, and there is always the possibility that I will get tired of this toes. I'm a long way from that still. I'll just keep going as I am for a while. I knit for comfort, for ease, for stillness and quiet. And this toe is all of those things.

I am enchanted by the toe of socks. It's the second best magic of socks. It might not seem like much, but there are two kinds of grandness in this world. Large grandeur like mountains and mighty rivers and far vistas, and then the grandness of small things, like the puff of a breeze on a spring day, or the stem of a prairie crocus, all fuzzy and soft, or the red of the rose leaves just before they fall.


It doesn't take much to inspire me. In fact sometimes I am more inspired by the small things as I move my way through the world.

I surely am inspired by sock toes. Beginning a toe, inspires the end.

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