An ode to stockinette...
Stockinette.
It doesn’t get enough respect, does it? Stockinette is the foundation of most knitting, second only to garter—only if you ask non-knitters what knitting looks like, they’ll point to the stockinette of their sweater rather than any garter stitch item. If the word “knitting” had a visual definition, it’d be stockinette (even though most non-knitters have never heard the term).
Twelve rounds of stockinette may sound boring—it is over 2,600 repetitions of the very same stitch, after all—but it’s not. Given the right circumstances, it can be downright soothing. The long meeting I had this week is a new group to me, the one where I requested to bring my knitting if they wanted me to join. Three hours in one hotel conference chair is a challenge for this middle-aged gal, even with interesting presentations.
I smiled when one of the other members of the group asked “Got your knitting?” as I walked into the room. “Absolutely,” I smiled back. He wasn’t challenging, he was curious. And, as I sat in the group actively participating, offering comments and barely even looking down as I stitched, I think he got it.
I was indeed grateful for the occupation of simple stockinette during that session. I could focus. I could pay close attention, my mind not wandering the way it tends to. I could enjoy the long stretch of time that might have taxed me otherwise. And, when the meeting was over, I had accomplished the twelve rounds of soothing, simple stockinette that offer counterpoint to the bright and bold blue that comes next.
If only life’s soothing seasons and bold seasons alternated each other with such order and enjoyment.
