Tricoter/Tripoter

You know it's time to think about packing it in when the crazy guy in the public park (where you are doing your FO photo shoot, because it's right across from your hotel) stops his ham-fisted rant about the One World Bank and the Endtimes to sheepishly ask you "Hey, what are you doing?" in a very well-mannered, even reasonable tone. Why, I'm taking picture of socks that I made, why do you ask? NOW who's the crazy one?

The Socks That Need No Introduction are finished and I am predictably quite pleased with them. The Socks that Rock Sunstone color has been quite the conversation piece for me as the color seems to attract onlookers droves. "What a gorgeous color!" has been frequently heard as I have been working on these solidly during the past week. It kind of reminds me of my twenties when I used to read the comic book Eight Ball in public and get propositioned by nerdy guys on a regular basis. Such a great pick-up strategy, don't you think? Sadly none of them were old enough to drive, and barely-legal wasn't really my thing anyway...but I had a good thing going there for awhile.

The Specs:
Pattern: Monkey Socks by Cookie A.
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight in 'Sunstone'
Needles: HiyaHiya 1.5 circs
Time: Feb.-June 2008

I worked on these during breaks and work stoppages from the correcting I have been doing. One of the people who stopped to admire my knitting was a very gracious French woman who noted that she wished she's learned to tricoter (knit) so she too could have something to tripoter (fiddle with/fondle). The word can also have a slightly dirty connotation, like to feel someone up. Besides the obvious phonic and graphic similarity of these two words, there does appear to be a semantic link as well. It seems to me that it is this notion of fiddling/fondling that does contribute to the appeal of our little hobby. The tactile sensation of knitting is in my mind one of its greatest appeals. It just feels right to have a little something soft between the fingers, doesn't it?