"White noise" knitting

I was re-reading one of the older issues of Knitscene last night (it was the issue devoted to "beginner projects"). In it, there was a short essay by someone on learning how to knit. She remarked that she wasn't so interested (at least initially) in making sweaters or stuff like that, but that she wanted "white noise for my hands" - something to do that eats up a bit of brainspace.

I understand that. I've actually found when I'm driving, especially out on country roads where there's not much traffic (or on the less-trafficky parts of the interstates), I relax. And I think what it does is the level of attention I have to give to driving - watching my speed (though I do often use the cruise control when there's little traffic, or it moves at a constant rate), watching out for other drivers, watching for other road hazards, minding my route - sort of uses up the attention I often give to low level worries running in the back of my head. (My brain is kind of like the Task Manager that Windows has (used to have?) - there are all these processes running in the background, and there's a certain amount of "CPU" or "Memory Usage" devoted to each one. "What might I have forgotten to do that I need to do" is kind of always there, as is "What do I need to think about doing in the near future." Sometimes there's also "Dumb stuff I did or said in the past")

But there are some things that kind of push the borrowing-trouble sort of processes to the background so I think about them less. (I'm sure that's why there's the common experience of people waking up at 2 am and their brains going, "Oh, you're not busy right now. Here, let me remind you of all the embarrassing stuff you did or said in the past three months.")

Anyway. I suppose for some people simple knitting does qualify as white noise for their hands and brains. I like simple knitting myself; I do it when I'm tired, or when there's something I want to pay attention to on the tv, or when I'm invigilating, or when I might have to put the knitting down quickly (like waiting at the doctor's).

I do have a couple simple projects going right now. One I started because I realized I give an exam Friday (which I need to type up this morning; I have a couple of "repeaters" in the class so I have to be jolly sure to write an exam that is different from ones I have previously given). One I started because I just wanted something simple to knit on:



This is one of the String Theory Colorworks self-striping colorways; it's called Oenology because the colors (I suppose) recall different wines. (I bought it because it was pink). I'm using one of the patterns from Knitting Vintage Socks on it (one of the simple ribbed patterns from the start of the book - perhaps it's Oak Ribbed Socks? I forget the exact name). This was the one "extra" thing I brought on break that I wound up never starting.

The thing I started with invigilating in mind is this:



Linen stitch again. This is yarn I've had FOREVER. It is Schaffer's Elaine, and I bought it a long time ago at Stitches N Stuff. The colorway (Schaffer always has unusual names; many of the yarns are named after well-known women) is Renata Tebaldi.

I bought the yarn for a scarf, but wasn't sure what exactly I wanted to do - just plain garter stitch didn't seem right, and I figured that since it was fairly bulky and a thick-and-thin yarn, most fancy stitches would get lost (or be hard to do). And I wanted to break up the pooling that often happens with these types of yarn. So after knitting the linen stitch heels on those socks I posted last week, I realized that linen stitch might work for this.

I'm having to use fairly large needles. It is making a firm-to-stiff fabric, but I'm thinking this will be a shorter scarf, and I might wear it just with the ends overlapping and held in place with a pin or brooch.

The thing is, for this kind of knitting, while it's great when I'm tired and just want to kind of zone out and watch cartoons and knit, or when I want to be able to keep my eyes on my students to be sure they keep their eyes on their own papers, it's not that great for sopping up the "extra" brain processes that sometimes make it harder for me to relax. For that, I find that more complex stuff works better, especially lace knitting.



This is the first of the "Lydia's Secret Stockings" (I'm still working on the second one; I'm up to the point on the ankle where you drop down to size 0 needles for a while, to make the gauge tighter and therefore shape the ankle). You can't see the lace as well there; it shows up better when the sock is on a foot. (I'll post a picture of both when I finish the second one.

Another thing that helps "detrack" my mind from stuff - especially if I've had a bad day or a difficult interaction with someone - is cutting quilt fabric. That's because it generally takes considerable concentration: if you're using a rotary cutter, as I usually do, you have to be careful to get the right-sized strips or squares, and you also have to be careful about your hands (rotary cutters are crazy sharp; they are essentially like a pizza cutter that's been outfitted with a single-edge razor blade). Or if you're "fussy cutting" (as I do for the hexagon quilt - which I am still working on), you want to pay attention to getting the part of the design you desire in the block.

I did do some sewing on the current quilt (the pattern is called Traffic) this weekend; I got about half of it sewn up before I ran out of steam (and out of bobbin thread, which made it seem like a natural place to stop). I also stacked up more fabric for future quilts. I have at least 8 quilt tops now that I have all of the fabric plus a pattern set aside for. (Which is why I'm trying to avoid buying more fabric....)

I also looked around at some of the back numbers of magazines I had stacked up. And I found my next sock pattern in one.



I had folded the magazine (it's an older issue of the UK Simply Knitting) open to the pattern a while back, because it was one I wanted to knit "sometime" - simple lace diamonds. (I like making lace socks better than any other style). I had recently ordered some on-sale yarn from KnitPicks and one of them was the "glimmer" sock yarn in the color they call "Fiji." Glimmer has a strand of something called Stellina in it, which makes it catch the light and sparkle. And you can see it's a bright turquoisey blue. (It's actually more blue IRL than the photo shows). So I saw the pattern, and thought, "Oh, diamond-patterned socks." And then I thought of the Fiji-colored yarn. And then I thought: Bright turquoisey-blue sparkly diamonds. Hmmmmm..

I like it. Subtle enough that most wouldn't get it, but it will mean something to me.

And anyway, the socks will be pretty. So those will be the next sock undertaking, once I finish one of the many pairs (I also have a couple of complicated Bavarian twisted-stitch socks that I haven't worked on in a long time, and a pair of toe-up socks) that I have going.