Regina and socks

Back from our travels. It is years since I was in the Queen City, close to twenty. Regina is a small city, but fits perfectly in her place in the world and fits her people. She is unassuming and keeps her flash all to herself.

Going to Regina has been one of those trips people from Saskatchewan find about as exciting as weeding the back 40. It is a step down from going to Winnipeg in winter. The trick about Regina is that is is filled with these hidden corners of beauty and you would be hard pressed to match them anywhere. Wascana Park, and its environs are lovely.

Our hotel was a typical Regina expression of that prairie secret. Very unassuming. A little careworn on the outside, and one of those sprawling places built with 50 rooms and then added on and on and on again, and mangled, making that first trip looking for your room comparable to being in a maze. The inside of the facility was grand. The food was amazing. It was simple fare, but well prepared and well served. It stands against the fanciest of haute cuisines any day. It was a wonderful wedding dinner, a wonderful stay, and the city and the parks can hold their head up among all the cities of the world.

At it's heart, Regina is a small town, just don't think less of her for it. She can pull out all the big city she needs when the time is right. Victoria Regina would be pleased, methinks.

Now about that sock thing. Driving to Regina means I was captive for a long time. I worked on unfinished socks. 9 hours of travel, means you can get a lot done.

I finished this pair.I worked on this pair. I worked on this pair a lot.

I knit two heels for this sock, and neither of them matched. I could not make the flap length and the slipped stitches on the side match the first completed sock without going seriously off track on the total length for the foot. The starting pioints matched. The stitch counts matched. They just refused to work out the same.

I ripped, and thought about things for a while. I snoozed and dreamt. I debated long and hard. If I can't seem to make an adequate repeat and I was having serious avoidance issues on this sock anyway, maybe it's time for something different. It would mean a lot more knitting, but it's simpler, more basic approach might be just right.

Back to basics, back to idiot knitting, back to simple, do the heels at the same time in the same couple of hours. Back to peasant heels and you know, I just might stay there.

Simple socks, a simple heel, but they can hold their head up with the fanciest of sock architectures. Suits a prairie person just right.