Blocked!

There it is! Rosemarkie in the process of being blocked. Spoot, our dear tabby cat, is peeking over my shoulder to see what I am doing.



This is what it looked like this morning. The hat came along in the middle of the night to keep the vest company. Now all we need is Meg to model everything. I can hardly believe that it is 99% done. Just some steeks to tack down and several buttons to sew on.

This morning, I went back to knitting up the first Leaf and Tendril sock on the train. I have to admit, I missed toting around the bulky vest in my bag, even as the sock pattern came back to me quickly.

In the microwave line today, some fellow who had obviously seen me knitting before decides to start up conversation with, "Gee, have you been working on that sock all winter long?" Yeah, that big vest that I had on US 1s? I wasn't actually knitting it; I was merely staring at it in the hopes that it would grow. Even if it had taken me all winter to knit half a sock, what kind of conversation starter is that? That's essentially like saying, "Gee, that's taking you forever!" So I made an executive decision to not engage in conversation with this guy by simply answering, "No." After several more equally probing questions of this nature (followed by equally terse responses), he took the hint. He even left our microwave line for the other one!

Some people comment about what I'm doing to the person sitting or standing next to them instead of me, essentially pretending that I can't hear them. They are generally comments (like "I'd never have the patience to do that"), but sometimes they are questions phrased as open-ended statements. "I wonder how long it takes to knit a sock" is code for, "I'm curious about how long it takes you to knit a sock, so if you want to speak up and tell us, that'd be great!" Another one is "They say that knitting is meditative." The real question is subtle. "Do you find it meditative? Have you heard this before?" Seriously, folks. I'm a nice guy, I speak English, and I promise I won't bite if you address me (even if you are the aforementioned person in the microwave line).

The best comment I've ever received about my knitting was from my dentist. He walks into the office, and I am sitting on the dentist's chair, knitting and waiting patiently. After the usual friendly greeting, he exclaimed, "You wouldn't believe how many male patients sit here and knit while they wait for me to show up!"