It was as I arrived home — through the sloppiest, sleetiest rain Washington can call down upon itself — absolutely fierce with the knowledge that I would have to rip back the heel flap of this flipping sock for the third time that I decided I should write a blog.

No, the blog idea was not a way to put off the sock (I can whip up a nice bit of procrastination without even touching a computer).

Nor was it a need to vent to someone who would understand (I have a knitting daughter, a knitting friend, and a husband who is knowledgeable enough to be sympathetic when called upon to do so).

It was the realization that I was able to say, calmly, “Other knitters, very accomplished knitters make stupid mistakes like the three I have made on this very simple square of fairly straightforward knitting.” I even said it (or words to that effect) aloud and with a straight face.

And I immediately understood that the only reason I was not stuffing the sock down the kitchen disposal while hollering for my husband to find the Filson website and order the most expensive pair of merino socks they carried (as the project sock with the ill-fated heel was an overdue Christmas gift for our future son-in-law, an outdoorsman with fine taste and, obviously, a kind and patient nature), the only reason I was going to pull out those blasted stitches and give it another go was that I knew that is what other knitters did.

And I only knew that other knitters made ludicrous, but repairable, errors and pulled them out (with a snarl or a chuckle, depending, of course…), and carried on because the dear things wrote about it – in essays, books, blogs.

So, though I frequently think that the world has enough printed (or virtually and therefore printlessly “printed”) material floating around, I am pretty sure our knitting brothers and sisters could use another voice of the “hey, that happened to me too” sort. I know my own knitting experiences are blessed and enriched by the triumphs and trumpetings and trials of fellow yarn-wranglers and that I am probably a better knitter – or, at least, an easier knitter to live with – because of their witness and wisdom.

And my worries that what I write is a repetition of what you have read before? Well, I suspect we knitters thrive on repetition – “Repeat from *!” And a certain amount of tenacious curiosity as well. Or why would we trudge through a column of code to see what Picot Eyelet Diamond or Banded Crescent Pattern looks like in the flesh (wool – or cotton, linen, bamboo, depending, of course…)? So perhaps you would like to know how I botched a simple heel flap three times or why I had not finished this Christmas gift on time (though I suspect you know the answer to that one!) or what else I have in my knitting bag. If so, tune in next time!

Meanwhile, I gotta go fix a sock.