slow knitting

twisted flower, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

I'm sure most of you have heard of the "slow movement" - the idea that we need to slow down our fast-paced lives and turn to simpler things. The slow food movement, for example, promotes using locally available, organically grown foods to cook home-cooked meals at home. Crazy, I know.

These socks, Cookie A's twisted flower, are a prime example of slow knitting (to which there is a dedicated ravelry group (actually dedicated to the slow concept in general, not necessarily promoting slow knitting...)).

A lot of people talk about process knitters vs product knitters. Those who enjoy the process, the stitches, learning new techniques, vs those who look at a project and go "ooooh I want THAT". I think I'm a little of both. I will admit that I have, on occasion, wanted a project so badly that I'll set unrealistic finishing goals. I have knit sweaters (two, both technically vests, but you get the idea) in less than a weeks time. Sometimes, a simple sock can take me less than 2 days.

But then sometimes I start knitting something (and I don't usually tend to knit anything that I think "ew, who would want that?!, so in some ways I suppose it is always about the product) and the process of knitting it takes over. These socks are a prime example. Started December 7, 2008 and completed July 20, 2009 (that's 7 months and just shy of 2 weeks for anyone counting), I believe that's the longest it's ever taken me to complete any project... and socks are supposed to be small and quick, right?!

Now, that isn't 7 months and 2 weeks of continuous knitting by any means. First Christmas knitting took over, then other projects, but every once in a while I would pick these up, knit a few rows, and then usually put them right back down again. I used the cabling-without-a-cable-needle technique for these and found that with such small stitches, my hands would hurt after a while. Far more than with any other kind of knitting I've done before, which also contributed to the lengthy process.

But now they're done and ready to wear... and it's about a billion degrees out... so I guess they won't really come full circle to their complete purpose for a couple more months.

For those still reading, and interested in the close ups of front and back here they are:

Front:

and back:


Forgive the top picture, we just moved and are still in the process of unpacking and figuring the whole thing out. Including the best spot for FO pictures...