Socks and stumpy fingers

More on my current sock. Here we are at our current position (as of last night - I took it to Sydney today for an appointment and knit the rest of the pink stripe in the waiting room), presented in all it's sockular glory by my stumpy, stumpy phalanges...
The yarn is Heirloom Jigsaw 4-ply, which I bought from the lovely people at Ozeyarn for $AUS18.50.

And, Melinda - thanks for your kind compliments on the Baby Sleeping Bag. It was well received at the baby shower, too. Lots of questions on that nature of knitting in general these days, asking how long I'd been knitting for, and observations on how difficult it must be.

I used the usual responses I developed from comments made be the wise and knowing Yarn Harlot, saying, "Nah; if you can read, you can knit" and "Well, it was just garter stitch, so it wasn't very difficult". The second is not one that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee advocates making; in actual fact she believes that we knitters are too quick to tone down praise for our hard work. Maybe I should make a habit of saying "Gee, thanks for the kind words. What you hold in our hands is nine hundred and seventy eight hours of my life".

Still, either way it's lovely to receive compliments for my knitting. Or incredulous disbelief, which is what I got today whilst waiting for my appointment.

The receptionist came over to me, saying "Oh, you're knitting?" and then, after a slight pause, "With FIVE needles?!". I explained briefly about the nature of sock knitting, and she was pretty well just amazed with the idea of knitting a tube without a break in it. She said, "Not many people knit these days, do they?" I responded by saying somewhat jokingly that knitters had gone underground, highly informed and organised over the internet.

The discussion we had about the cost of knitting was the one that amused me the most, though - she commented that it must be very expensive to knit as a hobby. I acknowledged that although some beautiful handpainted yarns spun from superfine merinos, cashmere and silks can cost a fair bit, but you don't always knit with that sort of stuff. I pointed out that you could spend $300 on exquisite yarns to knit a garment that might cost $500 in a shop when it's produced commercially. Her response? "Well, I suppose I'm more practical".

Hehe... It's always a fun ride talking to non-knitters.