Here are my room socks. I call them room socks to drive my friend, Deborah, crazy. I actually learned to make these slippers at my Grandma Nemmie`s knee when I was just a small child. She was a county fair award winning knitter who could keep track of intricate patterns while chatting, watching TV or at church meetings. She taught all her grandchildren to knit, even the boys. One of my cousins even made up a new word for a mess in the knitting – a “gawgloo.” It is sad that none of us ever kept up with it. A few years ago I wanted to start again and begged my mom to send a beginner`s knitting book or bought it on one of my trips back to the States to visit my family. When I opened the book there was the very same pattern I was taught by my Grandma Nemmie. My mom said “Don`t you dare make those for me!” And the dutiful daughter that I am, sent the very first pair to her. She stuck them in a drawer and heaven only knows what happened to them after they moved. Since then, I have made a pair for myself – in the picture, for my husband, Yutaka – we just tore the house apart looking for his?!?!?! – and our son, Junichiro. Putting his big toe right through the front, Junichiro has outgrown his and I am making a new pair. I have never made it past the beginner slipper stage but the clicking of the needles and the repetition seem to have a calming effect on me. I do hope, someday, to take on something a little more challenging, but for now, room socks it is.