Forgiveness

One of the authors that features most prominently on my bookshelf is Nancy Bush. In my opinion, as far as "Knitting Geniuses" go, she's right up there with Barbara Walker and Elizabeth Zimmermann. She's written some pretty wonderful books, books that chronicle a rich knitting heritage that I find very inspiring.

And that's about as far as I get with her books. I read them, I'm fascinated by them and I feel this deep connection to the uncounted generations of women (and men) who knit before me, yadayadayada... but I don't knit the patterns. I had a bad sock experience early in my knitting revival, and poor Nancy has been paying the price for my mistakes ever since.

A few months ago I started thinking about how silly it was to have all these books and not to be knitting any of the patterns in them. Why did I buy them if I wasn't going to use them? I mean... these books aren't exactly a dime a dozen, right? That's yarn money right there!

So I gave Nancy another chance. I pulled out my pristine copy of Folk Socks and cast on for my Estonian Socks. Despite some iffy beginnings, they turned out awesome.

The healing process had begun, and my faith in Nancy never leading me astray has been completely restored with these, my latest FO:

Pattern: Gentleman's Sock in Railway Stitch, from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Viola Merino Fingering (North Sea) and Dream in Color Smooshy (Strange Harvest)
Needles: 2.0 mm DPNs
Modifications: None.

What can I say about these socks that the pictures don't convey? They're just lovely. The stitch pattern was easy to memorise, the yarn was magnificent, practically luminescent and a pleasure to knit, and the stripes at the heel and toe give me a happy every time I look at them.

These socks make me feel like a Real, All-Growed-Up Knitter. Kinda like Nancy Bush.


Happy Knitting, Everyone!