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\nMary Thomas\u2019s Knitting Book<\/em> (still\navailable as a reasonably-priced reprint) is a small, mighty classic. The\nauthor, Mary Thomas (she was a real person, not a fictional figurehead like\nBetty Crocker) was a British journalist and nobody\u2019s fool. Her tone in the Knitting Book<\/em> very no-nonsense. If you\nask her how to do something with your knitting, she\u2019ll tell you. However, you\u2019d\nbetter do what she says or suffer the consequences while she gives you a\ncorrective Mary Poppins stare.
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\nMary Thomas\u2019s Knitting Book<\/em> had first\nbeen published in 1938. As I read her lengthy discourse on the making of socks,\nI thought of all the knitters I\u2019d read about who endured the Blitz with needles\nin hand. Had they been knitting socks \u00e0 la Mary Thomas? I was already becoming\ninterested in the history of knitting, and I fancied the idea of making a World\nWar II sock.
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\nThat settled it. I braved a trip to the least frightening of the three yarn\nshops and a set of double-pointed needles from the disapproving owner. She shook her head, and said she didn\u2019t think\nI was ready for them yet. \u201cYou\u2019re going to be miserable,\u201d she said, as she\ndropped them into a little paper bag with a happy dancing sheep on the front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think she expected I\u2019d accidentally stab myself in the throat and die. They\u2019d bury my mutilated corpse in Graceland Cemetery. She, wrapped in the fancy black shawl from her shop window, would press my mother\u2019s hand with smug sympathy. \u201cI warned him,\u201d she\u2019d say to Mother. \u201cI warned him\u2013stick to dishcloths<\/em>.\u201d These were not my first double-points, but\nthey were my thinnest by a considerable margin. And they were extra-slippery. I\ndon\u2019t recall the brand, and the needles themselves were long ago devoured by\nsome couch or other. But I am sure the label must have advertised slickness as\na selling point. Perhaps they were even coated with Teflon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mary Thomas prescribes working on three\nneedles, knitting with the fourth. I\u2019d knit across two of the three, hear a\ncheery little ding, and see the third needle on the floor. I finished the heel. I called a friend to\ncelebrate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow are you feeling?\u201d she said. \u201cReally?\u201d (I didn\u2019t stop knitting. But that\u2019s a story for another day.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d show her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nA more experienced knitter to whom I complained said not to worry; the needles\nwould stay put once I had worked about an inch of leg. I wondered if she would\nhave told Sisyphus not to worry, it would all get better once he\u2019d got the\nboulder to the top of the hill.
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\nKnitting faster just made the needles drop faster. I resorted to working with\nthe sock resting on top of a large pillow while holding my breath.
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\nAll the while, of course, I was dreading the heel. I knew nothing of how heels\nwere worked, I only knew that many other knitters spoke of them in hushed\ntones. Mary Thomas went so far as to lay them out in charted form, with\nparagraphs of supporting text and supplementary illustrations.
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\nI began to wonder how this had been done by the illiterate peasants in the old\nengravings and ancient photographs, tending sheep and children while turning\nheels. Where were their support pillows? How did they read the charts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m shaking and sweaty,\u201d I said, \u201cbut it looks more or less like the one in the book.\u201d
\u201cFantastic!\u201d she said. \u201cThe rest is easier. You\u2019ll see! Keep on going.\u201d
\u201cI have to wait until Tuesday,\u201d I said.
\u201cWhy?\u201d
\u201cBecause the shop is closed on Mondays, and I need another ball of yarn. I hope they have this brand.\u201d
\u201cWait\u2013what?\u201d
\u201cI\u2019m almost out of yarn,\u201d I said. \u201cI have to get more, and I guess two more balls to finish the second sock?\u201d
\u201cIs this sock for you?\u201d she said.
\u201cIt is,\u201d I said.
\u201cThen you should be able to get a whole pair out of one ball.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\u201cDid you check your gauge?\u201d
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\n\u201cNo. Everybody says they don\u2019t swatch for socks, they just cast on.\u201d
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\n\u201cOkay, but did you pay attention to how it looked as you worked? Does it\nlook…big?\u201d
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\n\u201cI was trying not to lose the needles! I can\u2019t do everything at the same time!\u201d
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\n\u201cHoney,\u201d she said, \u201cput the live stitches on a scrap thread and try the thing\non before you go any further.\u201d
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\nI did, and felt a sense of foreboding as my foot slipped into what felt like a\nsuspiciously saggy stocking.
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\nThen I slipped in my other foot. And then my other leg, as there was still\nplenty of room.
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\nI called my friend.
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\n\u201cDoes sock yarn shrink to fit when you wash it?\u201d
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\n\u201cNo.\u201d
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\n\u201cWhat do I do now?\u201d
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\n\u201cFinish the sock,\u201d she said. \u201cThen embroider MERRY CHRISTMAS across the top and\ngive it to a little kid.\u201d
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\n\u201cI think I should stop knitting,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"franklin](\"https:\/\/www.lionbrand.com\/community\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/franklin-habit.jpg\")