Monday, June 01, 2026
making a single sock and the work of academic writing
I’ve just knitted my first ever sock. I’m feeling very pleased.
This sock is the result of several years of effort. A few years ago, I was given a book of knitted sock patterns. The book came with a bookmark carefully inserted, suggesting a place to start. So I brought the wool and began to knit.
But I’m a slow knitter. And I tend to pause when I get to tricky bits, especially tricky bits where I might need help from others, who might not currently be available. (My partner is a much more experienced knitter than I and a very helpful voice of calm when I find my knitting tricky).
So this week, after nearly 2 and a half years, I have knitted my first sock. While there were months of no knitting, often related to a tricky part approaching, it is clear that knitting socks is – for my slow fingers – a long and slow labour of love.
However socks come in pairs. And so amid the elation of completing a first sock, is the realisation that I am only half way there. It is a strange thing to feel both pleased and daunted and both at the same time.
This week I also submitted a 2,000 word conference presentation. It began as a possible idea in December 2025, 250 words submitted from a hotel room in Rwanda. Then a few weeks ago, I carved out a few hours and realised the data I was working with was far richer than I had remembered. Then a week ago, I carve out another few hours and realised that I could adapt a theoretical framework from some earlier writing.
So this week I completed a sock and 2,000 word conference presentation. These milestones got me pondering how knitting is like writing.
The data for the conference presentation comes from analysing 12 interviews from my Ordinary knitters research project. I was working with interviews from 2019 through to 2024. Five years! The theoretical framework comes from reading done in 2012, which became part of my First Expressions book published with SCM in 2019.
So the conference words are also slow words. And the Ordinary knitters research project is something I hope to turn into a book. Of which I have about 40,000 words, of a possible 80,000 word book project.
So I’m half way to a book and half way to a pair of socks. I’m feeling pleased with progress, yet daunted by progress. At this stage, I can learn about writing from the processes of knitting.
Both writing and knitting are projects too big to do in a single burst. But one stitch, repeated, makes a row. One row, repeated, makes a leg.
)
