Monday, June 12, 2006

Life like a lonely grey wool sock

I have known this for a while but still now that the day is here, I'm so unprepared.

Yesterday my firstborn packed her suitcase and left for Turku for the summer. Turku is a city some 900 km south from here. She won't be back home before August. She has a summer job there and is living with her Grandmother. She was so excited and happy to go...

But after she left the whole house sort of lost its sunshine and happiness. All looked so sad. And so quiet...
Like a grey wool sock.
This is a handspun Polwarth twined knit sock. Usually in twined knit socks an after thought heel is worked but I wanted to try this classic heel. The stitches seem to be a bit longer than in usual knitting and the heel flap did not need as many rows as I normally knit for the flap. The purl side rows were really not that difficult to knit and not that slow either. The sock is very very thick. The rib is normal knit2/purl2 but it is a bit loose compared to the rest of the sock. Maybe smaller needle size would make it better. This yarn I spun seemed a bit stiff and a bit dead to knit with. It has somehow lovely homespun quality now that it is finished but knitting was sticky. So the sock will not have a pair I think.

The toe fits!

I had to embroider one lonely flower.

Cheryl of made a promise to herself to spin for 30 hours in June. I thought that it was a good idea and I'll try that too. I jumped on the wagon a bit late so I'm five hours behind but that should not be a problem.

It is very warm. Over 20 degrees. I have the wheel outside and I have managed to spin many short periods during the day. It is the grey Polwarth still.

19 comments:

  1. Anonymous17:32

    Watching your little bird fly from the nest must create all kinds of emotions. Life's rhythm will be changed, but you will find it again.
    As for the knitting, sometimes the really difficult things in life become the most cherished. This is a beautiful sock, made for warmth and should not lose it's destiny in life without a partner. When it is time, it will have a mate.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so happy to have you join me spinning for 30 hours this month! It's nice to have company.

    I always like to see your embroidery, you do such beautiful things.

    ReplyDelete
  3. When our wee chix fly the nest at least we're fortunate to have the internet tether. :-) Having this instant communication makes it so much more bearable. Still, that first long distant, lenghty flight from home shakes the heart. As does the awareness of enevitable change.

    She'll have a wonderful summer but I'm sure she'll miss home, the lake, sisters, and most of all her mother!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous20:55

    Bless you Lene...every day when my husband leaves for work it's as if the light went out.I really do see grey .I can't imagine Holly leaving .I feel for you deeply.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous21:19

    What a lovely blog. I just found it from another blog. Thanks, I'll be back.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The little flower is so graceful.

    It is nice that your daughter will have some family to be with.

    What kinds of things ran through your mind when you were preparing to meet my family for the first time?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous21:41

    ooohhh, another post to bring tears to my eyes, and i don't even HAVE children . . .
    i find that knitting with handspun is also "stickier" as you say, especially for socks. it takes some getting used to, but i also find i can usually use one needle size bigger since the handspun is thicker and fuzzier. congrats on your toe fit!
    your child will be back before you know it . . .

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous22:51

    Here's another Mom watching her "baby" fly away - mine is going to Mexico for three months in the fall. Meanwhile she is charting local but unknown territory - late night bartending - YIKES! "Life's exciting and always new".

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous23:41

    I love this flower on this lone grey sock! It brings life to it somehow...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your sock is lovely the flower makes it. Don't fret over your daughter, I know it can be hard, but enjoy it, she will return before you know it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous02:52

    My little birds have been leaving the nest for the last few years, for university and college, but they always come back. Yours will too. I also have some socks with no mates. I see another colour of yarn and I just have to make a sock out of it. Usually, eventually I get around to finishing the previous pair.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous06:44

    I'm sorry you're feeling lonely with your daughter gone off. The sock is lovely, I really like it. Perhaps a mate would be a good idea?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous14:02

    You know over 21 (cough cough) years ago I flew away from my Mum's Coop to live in Denmark as an exchange student - I think every letter I got from Mum for the first 3 months had big tear splots on them. Now, I live in the same town as her and work with her and we are still very close. The first time I left I could hardly get her to let go of me at the airport, now she doesn't even come to the airport....moral = they fly away, it hurts them just as much, but they come back. I too think your sock should have it's friend made for it....maybe to wear when she comes back

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank goodness for the internet. When my DD went to Australia for a semester, I missed her terribly. It was always wonderful to get email, instant messages and pictures from her.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I have no children of my own, but am step mum to two young men. In years past when they would come and stay with us, it was always an adjustment to our lives, not to mention theirs, when they arrived. When they left, Steve and I and our dog would mope around for days because the house was so quiet.

    I just came back from a family reunion. How precious family is, and how much more that rings true, when distance seperates us.

    Watch how strong your relationship grows now and enjoy that relationship growing stronger between Grandmother and Granddaughter as well.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous06:45

    Your feelings about your daughter--I know EXACTLY how you feel. My oldest daughter (16) is flying over the north Atlantic RIGHT NOW on her way to three weeks in Germany (from the US) on an exchange program. I left her in the parking lot before the airport bus came, and the last glimpse I had was of this confident young women standing with her suitcases, talking to the other students, all of them alive with anticipation. We've had all these years to teach them and form their character, and this part of our work is now coming to an end. I wonder what the next phase will be like....

    On another note, it seems sad that the sock is fated to be single. The delicate embroidery on the rather rough wool is charming.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous08:19

    Lene, I think most of us have single socks that will never become a pair. I found a good use for mines: I turn them into Christmas socks. You can see an example at:
    http://www.fluffbuff.com/2006/06/a_perfect_use_for_single_socks_1.html

    BTW, you do beautiful work.

    ReplyDelete
  18. The embroidery is perhaps your wish to put a little sunshine into a grey situation! Hope it finds a mate. I was just in Oklahoma and I can assure you no one there would need to knit double knit socks! It is nice and warm, as are the folks living there!

    ReplyDelete
  19. The sock with the flower is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete