Saturday, May 22, 2010

The Waiting Game

Stephanie wrote:

I've had a week filled with waiting. As any good knitter would do, I planned accordingly and had a couple of projects with me at all times.

First up was my daughter's doctor appointment. After getting settled in the waiting room I pulled a sock out of my bag. The leg, heel flap, turn and most of the gusset were all done. I set off to march down the foot of the sock. I knit and knit and knit. After an hour or so I realized that with a little more time I would finish the foot.

My daughter was not quite as engaged with her book as I was with my knitting, but I was able to entertain her with chatter, all the while knitting away. More waiting while I knit several rounds . . . the foot was done, now on to the toe.

At this point I was secretly hoping our name wouldn't be called - just a little more waiting and I could finish the sock. When I voiced this to my daughter, she sighed heavily and rolled her eyes.


It was not meant to be. Our name was called, the momentum was lost and the sock was put away.

Later that evening with a few minutes to myself I finished what I had started.


Complete.

The next day I found myself hanging out at the airport due to a delayed flight. I reached into my bag and pulled out the makings for sock the second.


I cast on and got down to business.

I had a sinking feeling when I saw the departure board. I got a cup of coffee, made myself comfortable and settled in for the long haul.


The time for departure finally arrived, and I had accomplished this much. You'll have to excuse the off-colors - airport lighting is the worst.

The next day sock the second made an appearance at the dentist office. I picked up where I had left off at the airport.


I was about to start the heel flap, but my time was up. Two cleanings - just the amount of time I needed to finish the leg. While I hated to put the sock away, there was good news - no cavities all around.

I spend lots of time waiting, sitting and waiting. Rather than measuring the time in minutes and hours, I prefer to think in terms of knitting progress. It's liberating to shift the focus from the clock to the knitting needles. And it helps me keep my sanity.

Of course there were other wanderings throughout the week. On one run I pulled into a parking space, got out and was greeted with this sight.



Ten babies in all, fresh and fuzzy.

3 comments:

Vermont Designs said...

Socks always my travel/waiting room project too. Finished a pair on the plane back from UK on Tuesday, much to the interest of seatmate and her husband! May have inspired that knitter to carry socks as her project too, I could see her fingers just twitching. 8-)

Sunflowerfairy said...

I love baby ducklings. We have baby turkeys that come out of the woods surrounding my house to eat and play daily. Adorable.

Sometimes, I really enjoy playing the waiting game. What better excuse does a knitter have to sit and knit!?

Taos Sunflower said...

Thanks for the reminder that you can get lots done if you always have projects with you. I remember when I worked in San Diego many, many years ago...I always kept a project to work on during bad traffic jams on the freeway in the evenings (once we were stuck for 2 hours...boy, was I glad to be prepared!).