Seeing Red

OOOH Doggies! I have been quiet for awhile. Last semester I funneled all my writing energies into an English composition class. It has taken me two months to recover. (I was afraid I'd forgotten how to log onto blogger...)

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee dug me out of my cozy silence with her post "Big Snow, Big Day, Big question." She's been working diligently for over a month (which is a long time for her; she's a fast knitter) on "Vintage," a pair of socks inspired by wine. This pattern packs more into a small package than Victoria's Secret. Oh, the finicky detail! Oh, the 34 individually knit leaves! Oh the clever heel and instep shaping... I'm beginning to get sucked into the vortex just writing about it. It is a good thing the kit is out of my budget. Vintage is not at all my style to wear, but it is very much my style to knit. I love to concentrate, to use a different part of my brain than the rest of my life requires. I do not need to own it when I am finished, anymore than a mountain climber "owns" the Eiger.

So Stephanie's question, and mine, is, "Why would anyone spoil all this knitterly fun by dropping a bomb in her comments saying the socks are ugly?" How does that make the world a better place? Her posting brought a rush of comments -- over seven hundred eleventy eleven in less than a day. Since I am not strong enough to wade through them all, I decided to post mine here.

After working in a fabric store, I learned on a visceral level, thanks to yards and yards of an orange geometric print, that we all have different taste. I will never forget the women who adored that fabric and bought it all. Most people know logically "it takes all kinds" but do not really grasp what that means. We can be mighty lazy on the critical thinking front. It is easier to degrade what we don't understand or don't agree with than to make a positive effort. We're not so much interested in furthering the discussion as we are comforting ourselves with the noise of our own chatter. (Oh wait. Is that why I blog?) There is good reason we have all been told "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Enough philosophy. Isn't this beautiful?

My youngest brother drew my name this year. This was my Christmas present from him: absolutely perfect yarn. The perfect color (red), the perfect weight (fine), the perfect fiber (alpaca and silk), the perfect amount (enough to make a generous lace scarf). Don't ever let anyone ever tell you we don't dream in color. Isn't he the coolest?