Around the Corner

Last night we worked on changing from flat knitting to round knitting. We didn't plan it, but luck would have it that J was starting a toe-up sock using my basic pattern (Mom Socks, Below:) and was moving from several rows on straight needles to knitting around the toe. S was doing the same thing but on a larger scale: After knitting a small rectangle, picked up the edges and began knitting a purse in the round.
At one single moment in both processes, the mind suceeds in swinging around the corner from flat back and forth to three-dimensional roundness. In this moment of shift, all things are possible. After stuggling with the concept and the details, suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, we get it: We see it. One wonders what other dimensional breakthroughs lurk just out of reach. I think this is the magic of knitting: that we can sculpt our projects, shape them through each stich, each cell, into a complex and curvy piece.
If we were interested in only flat pieces, we would take up sewing.