Socks of Perdition

I finally finished the Spring Forward Socks. It's a lovely pattern, don't get me wrong. Love the yarn I used, love the way the lace ripples back and forth. But working with this tiny yarn and tiny needles, the project had this way of sucking out my soul as it went on, and on, and on. I'm just not cut out for this kind of project; at least, not at this point in my emotional development.

There used to be a term, during the Imperial period in Russia: "serf's work." It meant something that was so labor intensive that it would be utterly impractical to do if the worker had to be compensated for the labor in any meaningful way. I figure I've got 45 or 50 hours into these socks, and I still need to sew up the toes. Some non-knitter is going to look at them and say something like, "Those are cute. You should make a bunch of them to sell at the farmer's market." But truth be told, even if someone was willing to pay a reasonable hourly wage for them (say, $500), I just don't think I would ever do it again except for love. Then again, I do have enough left over for a whole second pair of socks. Maybe this summer, after I've had time to heal emotionally.

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Meanwhile, guess what I'm working on now? For those with limited memories of my past efforts, this is the long lost edge lacing for the Anniversary shawl. I have no excuses left, and I think I'm ready to finish it up. I even managed to complete 1 & 1/2 repeats of the pattern last night before Lenten Services. If I give it a good go, maybe I'll actually get the two edges done before I leave for Arizona, so Tammy can crochet the pieces together by Easter. (I should be knocking on wood right now.) We'll see.

And finally, here's an updated photo of the puppy and a couple more shots from the ice storm. Just because.

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