Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Begin, Knit, Repeat

The older I have gotten, the more I have appreciated the idea of ritual. When my kids were younger, I didn't really think about whether I was partaking in a ritual or not. I just had things that I repeatedly did, sometimes daily, like reading books together before tucking Paige and Kai in at night or more randomly, whenever we were in the car together for more than a half hour.  Of course, many of my rituals have to do with food. The only thing about my daughter's vegetarianism that I've been unhappy about has been that she hasn't taken part in some of our food rituals during the holidays.  Danish medisterpølse (pork sausage) or frikkedillar (Danish meatballs) just don't fit in her diet, even once a year.

One of my daily rituals that I enjoy  even though it may not be all that healthy (cream and sugar, please.) is my morning cup of coffee. This ritual has gotten all the more special to me since Christmas when Julie sent me this Polish pottery coffee cup. I LOVE my coffee cup. If Russ brings me my coffee in another cup, I always have to keep myself from asking if he's forgotten that coffee tastes much better in my "Julie" cup. My other daily ritual is to knit for a half hour or so in the morning while drinking my coffee. So, I sat down this morning to work on my sock, which I started a couple of days ago, using my beautiful yarn from Anne. As I was sitting down to knit,  I realized something. Knitting a pair of plain, ribbed socks would not do justice to this yarn. I was in such a hurry to get started with my socks (It was in the mid sixties today, after all. My wool socks wearing days are numbered.) that I wasn't patient enough, initially, to find the perfect pattern to use with this yarn. I did spend a little time browsing through Ravelry, but this morning, I realized that I really wanted to knit another pair of L'Amour et la Morte socks I'm not hooked on the little skulls, but I adore the hearts and the cables. 

 Fortunately, my morning "knitting ritual" is more about getting ready to face a hectic day than production, so I'm not phased by the hours I kind of wasted knitting endless rows of k1, k1, p1, p1. Well, not phased too much.



6 comments:

Cloudberry said...

Love your cup :) I have a favourite tea cup too - and the tea dosn't taste as good in another cup ;)
I find mindless sock knitting with a easy patters such as k2, p2 a great way to relax and let my mind just wander..

Thimbleanna said...

Very pretty cup! I loved reading about your morning ritual. I need to make myself knit for 30 minutes a day -- those 30 minutes add up. So many other things just seem to get in the way!

Tracy Batchelder said...

Begin, knit, repeat...until you're satisfied.

Joansie said...

The socks are really beautiful. Rituals sometimes feel like rocking in a rocking chair...comforting.

Anonymous said...

The sock looks good to me!!

marit said...

I really need a big cup of tea, and some quiet time with my knitting to get started in the morning...but never plain socks, that is just too boring! Right now I'm knitting a jacket, with lots and lots and lots of knit and purl, not boring at all-LOL!

Those red socks were really cute:-)