Page 77 of In Stitches with the B!tches

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Gusset:

Pick up 16 sts along the heel flap. Knit across instep sts, pick up 16 sts along the other side.

Decrease 1 st each side of the heel every other round until you’re back to 64 sts.

Foot:

Knit until you’re 2 inches shy of the wearer’s foot length. If you’re guessing, aim long — better too big than “Tex can’t get them over his heel.”

Toe:

Decrease 4 sts every other round until 16 sts remain. Graft with Kitchener stitch (look it up if you don’t know it — I’m not your Google).

Mandy’s Closing Words:

Don’t stress if you mess up a stitch or two. Tex’s pair has a dropped stitch near the ankle, but he wears them anyway. Says it makes them “one of a kind.” Personally, I think he just likes reminding me I’m not perfect. But if he’s wearing them every time it’s cold… maybe that’s the point.

Step 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves

Tex

(From Tex’s notebook)

Question: What demons keep you from living free?

Some of mine have names.

Some have faces.

Most just sit in the dark waiting until I’m stupid enough to think I’ve outgrown them.

The booze. The pills. The empty beds.

The nights I spent awake because if I closed my eyes, I’d see it all over again.

The things I did to feel nothing.

The things I did tosomeone elsejust to keep from feeling nothing.

I keep telling myself I’m not that man anymore.

And some days, I believe it.

Other days, I still hear him in my voice when I get angry.

Still feel him in my hands when I want to grab a bottle.

Some days I wake up and the weight’s still there,

the voices in my head telling me I’m not worth a damn,

that I’ll always be the guy who fucks things up.

Brewer says demons are only as big as the space you give them.

I’ve been giving mine a damn cathedral.

I’ve carried that for years.

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