Recently, I was reading something about why it is that time seems to speed up as you get older. I remember reading one explanation a few years ago (here it is) that essentially said that this is a real phenomenon, and that (to sum up) it is because we’re not laying down a lot of new stuff.  Apparently while your brain is encoding novel memories, time appears to slow down – imagine your mental CPU is overtaxed, and so moves less quickly while that gets done. As we age we (apparently) experience less novelty, the CPU is less challenged and whoosh, past she goes. This does not sound correct to me, but I checked around and perhaps it is my own sense that my life is plenty novel enough (thank you very much) that makes me want to argue with the worlds greatest minds in the neurology department, but I do.  I read another argument that said that at least part of the sense that time’s picked up the pace comes from the comparative size of the units of time that are passing. When you’re five, a year passing is a fifth of your life, a chunk of time with far more gravity than what a year is to me now, apparently a whole year careens past – barely registering as a 1/50th of my total experience.

None of that entirely explains how it is that I blinked and found myself thinking “must get to the beach one day this summer” as snow started to fall. Pro-tip, apparently it’s November. Pretty soon we’ll have to have an awkward conversation about how many knitting days are left until Christmas (that would be 51) but for now let’s talk about what happened while that time passed, shall we?

Since we spoke last (I know we don’t really speak, but doesn’t it feel like it?) I have been in three countries – Canada, the US and Mexico, and I have knit lots. Enough actually that I am just a few hours from finishing another Toolbox Cowl knit from Raveling Rose‘s little mini-skeins or recycled cashmere. (To be sure, I’m mostly knitting this so that I can buy more this coming weekend without guilt* though this little pattern is always fun and the perfect thing to do with those mini-skeins that seem to breed like tribbles around here.)

I am up to date on my Self-Imposed-Sock-of-the-Month-Club. After an absolutely dismal showing in August (I finished the August Socks right at the end of September) I was determined to recover, and things looked sketchy for the September socks for a while there too, but last week I pulled it all together and finished those,  and then the October socks came together really quickly -as we speak they’re drying upstairs – I’ll show you tomorrow. The August socks are from my much loved Gauge Dye Works club, the Sun and Moon socks from Andrea Rangel.

The  yarn came as one skein that had a fade from light blue to dark, then a yellow chunk, then a fade from dark blue to light – I think. I can’t remember exactly the order of things from back when I was winding it, the important thing is that it was one skein that you had to wind off and cut into it’s separate elements.  This is fun – though I can’t explain why.

I chose the almost-largest size for these, because I wanted to use as much of the delicious yarn as possible.  That patterned top to the sock looks narrow when it’s off a leg, but is deliciously stretchy when on.

(Thanks to my mother-in-law Carol for being sock model. I appreciate it, especially since I ripped them off her feet for someone else after she did me the favour.)

I’m back into the stash today – the November socks are going on the needles on November 4th, and I don’t feel like that’s too terrible at all, assuming I don’t wake up tomorrow and discover that it’s December 15th.

*You too can buy Raveling Rose recycled cashemere this weekend, along with a few other lovely things, at our Strung Along marketplace at the resort at Port Ludlow. It’s tiny but fun and the space is free for locals and students to vend.  Saturday from 7:30- 8:30. (Trust us, that’s enough time – though nobody is going home if you’re still buying.)

Also – on the off chance that anyone here is in the right part of the world – we’ve got a few spaces left in our workshops this coming Friday. We have just two spots for Judith MacKenzie’s class for people who would like to learn to spin – or would like to go back to basics to refine their technique. (We can loan you a wheel if you don’t have one, and can you imagine learning from someone better than Judith?)  Together with Debbi I’ll be teaching a “What the heck do I do with this” rigid heddle loom class. You bring the loom, and we’ll teach you to warp, weave and finish a scarf- in a day. (Weaving is fast and eats 2 balls of yarn a day. Just think about what that does to your stash and holiday list.)

Both classes are at the Resort at Port Ludlow from 9-4, and both cost $240, and both include a yummy lunch.  It’s a nice way to start your weekend and get a taste of what our retreats are like. If you’d like to join us, email us at info@strungalong.ca, and we’ll get you set up.