The only reason why I persist with these socks is that they are for my sister. These socks will be lovely for her. They are the quintessential hiking socks. They will fit her narrow feet and look great while she treks along in her graduate school program in ecology. They'll look fanstastic with Tevas and adventure pants. All her eco-pals will be green with envy (yuk, yuk). I even signed up for the Trek Along with Me KAL, and imagined my sister completing the hike before the deadline, and inviting her to guest-blog her hike for us all.But this summer is all about enjoying the knits, and releasing any guilt, oppression, or unpleasant associations with knitting. No deadlines, no additions to the stash, releasing unloved stash, etc.
Thus, in order to release myself from the oppression of the Trekking Blah Sock, I have decided that this sock will strictly be my traveling sock this summer, and I will knit it only when actively traveling. Certainly boring knitting is better than no knitting at all. And my sister is a natural-born traveler, who will truly appreciate socks that have many miles knit into them before ever having been worn. She also has no deadlines and no requirements for me when she knows I am knitting for her. She happily accepts woolen mittens in June, and will love wool socks whenever they are finished.
So far, the Trekking Blah sock has accompanied me from my home in the Philadelphia suburbs to:
- Narragansett, RI (546 mi round trip)
- Down the shore (200 mi round trip)
- to NYC (leaving from the shore, 288 mi round trip)
Knitting on the NJT Train
Thus, the Trekking Blah sock and I have traveled a total of 1034 miles. I have (mostly) completed one sock. (When I make toe-up socks, I knit most of the cuff, then begin the second sock. I finish both socks together to keep the lengths the same and to use up all the yarn). I have many more trips back and forth to the shore and other road trips planned this summer, so I am curious to see how far Trekking Blah socks and I will travel this summer.
Readers of this humble blog can keep up with the Trekking Blah sock's mileage over in the sidebar. I will leave it to my sister to do the hiking when they are done.
7 comments:
Sounds like a good way to brighten up a gray knit.
This is the best way to get through a boring knit!
I hope your sister hikes as many miles in those socks as you traveled to knit them! Sometimes when I am in the middle of a boring knit, I think about whether the intended recipient is going to spend as much time wearing the item as it took me to knit it. . . not a recommended strategy if you want to stay motivated to finish, but it's something that nearly always happens to me.
I feel like you are enduring a grueling marathon rather than 'Trekking' but don't worry I'm on the cyber sidelines cheering you on and holding out glasses of water or cosmospolitans or whatever you need!
You'll get through it! I know you will! :-)
Oh, come on! You can do this. :P
I know the feeling, I feel the same way about my Jaywalker. They have been with me to Philadelphia, NYC, Richmond, DC...and who knows where else.
I can't wait to get them off my needles and move on.
At least you sister is going to love them, even if you don't.
Oh, my. I have this same Trekking colorway, and have been wondering what kind of pattern would show it off without being too boring to knit. I've been stumped. Yours look lovely.
I'll pick a very cool first trek for the Blah Socks and report back, scout's honor. I'll even provide photographic proof of them embracing their true nature as Action Socks in the wild. Now I have to pick out a place for their big debut, fun!
Looking really good, Liz, thank you!
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